THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 

ULYSSES  S.  GRANT 
COLLECTION 


The  RALPH  D.  RFFD  UE7.AEY 

rr 

UKI":  '  of  CAL1FOKNIA 

LOS  ANGELES,  CALIF. 


HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 


STAGING    IN    1849,    IN    THE    SI£RRAS    OF    CALIFORNIA. 
Reproduced  by  permission   from  the  painting  by   Gutzon   Borglum. 

Page  136 


HEROES 

OF 

GAL IFO  R  NI A 


THE  STORY  OF  THE  FOUNDERS  OF  THE  GOLDEN 

STATE  AS  NARRATED  BY  THEMSELVES  OR 

GLEANED  FROM  OTHER  SOURCES 


BY  GEORGE  WHARTON  JAMES 

AUTHOR  OF  "THROUGH  RAMONA'S  COUNTRY,"  "THE  OLD  MISSIONS 
OF    CALIFORNIA,"    "THE   WONDERS   OF  THE  COLORADO    DES- 
ERT,"   "  IN    AND   AROUND  THE   GRAND   CANYON,"   ETC. 


As  one  candle  lighteth  another  and  diminisheth  not  inflame, 
so  nobleness  enkindleth  nobleness 


BOSTON 

LITTLE,  BROWN,  AND    COMPANY 
1910 


Copyright,  1910, 
BY  EDITH  E.  FA.RNSWORTH. 


All  rights  reserved 


Published,  November,  1910 


Printer* 
S.  J.  I'AHKHILL  <t  Co.,  BOSTON,  I'.  S.  A. 


Geology 
Library 


TO  THOSE 

Itmric  fBen  an&  Women 

OF   SAN   FRANCISCO 

WHO,  AFTER  THE  EARTHQUAKE  AND  FIRE  OF  IQOO",  AS  THEY 
GAZED  UPON  THEIR  DEVASTATED  HOMES  AND  BUSINESS 
HOUSES,  THEN  AND  THERE  BEGAN  TO  PLAN  FOR  THEIR 
IMPROVED  RESTORATION,  WHICH  NOW,  IQIO,  IS  MORE  THAN 
ACCOMPLISHED,  THESE  VARIED  CHAPTERS  OF  CALIFORNIA 
HEROISM  ARE  DEDICATED  AS  A  SINCERE  EXPRESSION  OF 
APPRECIATION  AND  ADMIRATION 


1054637 


INTRODUCTION 

T>RAVE  and  heroic  deeds  have  always  thrilled  the 
••-*  minds  of  others  to  emulation.  A  great  deed  is 
an  inspiration  for  other  great  deeds.  Bravery  and 
heroism  are  as  contagious  as  cowardice  and  fear. 
The  habit  of  the  mind  should  be  towards  right,  re- 
gardless of  all  consequences.  The  brave  man  knows 
nothing  of  consequences;  he  does  his  duty  and  leaves 
consequences  to  take  care  of  themselves. 

During  all  ages  it  has  been  recognized  that  nothing 
stimulates  most  men  to  heroism  and  nobility  so  much 
as  the  example  of  their  fellows.  From  all  time  the  acts 
of  the  noble  and  brave  have  been  recited  to  incite  to 
emulation  those  who  listen.  All  war  songs  have  this 
origin,  and  Napoleon  could  think  of  nothing  more 
powerful  to  say,  when  his  soldiers  were  about  to  fight 
in  the  presence  of  the  sphinx  and  pyramids  of  the  Nile, 
than:  "  Forty  centuries  gaze  down  upon  you." 

This  principle  is  recognized,  also,  in  the  Scriptural 
records,  where,  to  stimulate  converts  of  the  Christian 
faith  to  live  the  new  life  demanded  of  them,  the  writer, 
after  recounting  the  wonderful  deeds  of  the  heroes  of 
the  past,  added  these  words:  "Wherefore,  seeing  we 
also  are  compassed  about  with  so  great  a  cloud  of 
witnesses,  let  us  lay  aside  every  weight,  and  the  sin 
which  doth  so  easily  beset  us,  and  let  us  run  with 
patience  the  race  that  is  set  before  us." 


vi  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

As  all  need  constant  inspiration  to  noble  endeavor, 
and  as  Calif ornians  especially  have  many  "  witnesses  " 
who  proved  themselves  great  and  heroic  souls  in  the 
past,  it  has  been  my  aim  to  present  in  these  pages  a 
series  of  pictures  of  their  heroism,  hoping  that  my 
readers  may  thereby  be  encouraged  to  emulate  them 
in  spirit,  if  not  in  deed. 

Wherever  possible,  the  original  narrators  have  been 
allowed  to  tell  the  stories  in  their  own  words.  I  wish 
to  stimulate  to  a  fuller  reading  and  larger  knowledge 
of  original  sources.  California  has  a  greater  wealth  of 
such  literature  than  any  other  section  of  the  United 
States,  and  it  should  be  better  known.  Parents  are 
urged  to  point  out  to  their  children,  and  teachers,  also, 
to  their  students,  the  pleasure  and  profit  that  can  be 
gained  by  further  readings  on  the  lines  I  have  here 
suggested.  In  the  last  chapter,  references  may  be 
found  to  books  and  magazines  which  give  these  fuller 
particulars.  The  time  will  soon  come,  I  hope,  when 
every  school  library  in  the  State  will  possess  the  fol- 
lowing books,  which  might  be  regarded  as  the  Cali- 
fornia classics:  Palou's  "Life  of  Serra," —  a  good 
translation  is  needed  and  doubtless  will  be  forthcom- 
ing ere  long;  Parker  Winship's  translation  of  the 
Castaneda  narrative  of  the  Coronado  expedition;  a 
good  history  of  the  California  Franciscan  missions; 
my  own  "  In  and  Out  of  the  Old  Missions,"  until  a 
better  book  makes  its  appearance;  Pattie's  Narrative; 
McGlashan's  "  History  of  the  Donner  Party; "  the 
"  Story  of  Virginia  Reed  Murphy;  "  Manly's  "  Death 
Valley  in  '49,"  and  the  various  magazine  articles  on  the 


INTRODUCTION  vii 

subject;  Bonner's  "  Life  of  James  Beckwourth," 
Hittell's  "  Life  of  James  Capen  Adams,"  the  "  Life  of 
Kit  Carson,"  with  General  and  Mrs.  Fremont's  various 
works;  a  good  life  of  Thomas  Starr  King;  Mrs.  Carr's 
"  The  Iron  Way;  "  the  "  Life  and  Services  of  Judge 
Field;  "  books  on  the  Comstock  Lode  and  the  Sutro 
Tunnel;  "  Ramona  "  and  the  "Life  of  Helen  Hunt 
Jackson; "  Clarence  King's  "  Mountaineering  in 
California; "  a  sketch  of  James  Lick's  Life;  William 
Smythe's  "  The  Conquest  of  Arid  America,"  the  "  Life 
and  Work  of  Stephen  M.  White; "  Edwin  Markham's 
story  of  how  he  came  to  write  "  The  Man  with  the 
Hoe; "  Muir's  "  Mountains  of  California; "  Har- 
wood's  "  Life  of  Burbank,"  and  the  Century  Maga- 
zine's series  of  articles  on  "  California  Before  and 
After  the  Gold  Discovery." 

The  neglect  to  provide  these  books  is  a  proof  of 
imdifference  to  the  wonderfully  inspiring  and  thrilling 
stories  contained  therein.  Students  will  revel  in  them, 
more  than  in  novels,  if  they  are  led  to  see  the  spirit 
in  which  they  are  written.  How  shall  they  read,  how- 
ever, when  they  axe  not  even  aware  of  their  exis- 
tence. 

If  the  Native  Sons  and  Daughters  of  the  Golden  West 
.would  take  hold  of  this  matter  with  one-tenth  of  the 
energy  displayed  by  their  pioneer  ancestors,  the  thing 
would  be  done  in  less  than  a  year,  and  with  this  noble 
aim  these  organizations  would  do  more  good  to  the 
rising  generation  than  any  other  one  thing  they  could 
accomplish. 

I  trust  it  is  not  necessary  to  assure  my  readers  that 


viii  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

I  have  no  thought  that  I  have  exhausted  the  list  of 
California's  heroes  and  heroines.  I  have  written  of  those 
whose  acts  have  impressed  me,  those  who  have  stood 
out  as  "  beacon  lights  "  in  my  reading.  I  doubt  not, 
however,  that  many  readers  will  wish  that  this,  or  that, 
or  the  other  character  who  has  loomed  up  as  heroic  to 
them,  should  have  found  a  place  in  these  pages.  So 
that,  were  the  list  to  be  revised,  possibly  a  hundred 
more  names,  each  as  worthy  as  those  I  have  selected, 
could  be  added.  In  this  is  one  of  my  great  satisfac- 
tipns.  I  confidently  hope  some  such  awakening  will 
be  the  result  of  the  publication  of  this  book,  and  that 
the  columns  of  our  newspapers  will  contain  many 
admirable  stories  of  heroism  that  I  have  overlooked. 
Thus  the  good  work  will  go  on,  and  the  youth  of  our 
Golden  State  be  quickened  to  higher  and  nobler 
endeavor  and  greater  achievement  because  of  the 
emulation  that  will  be  stimulated  by  the  recital  of  these 
noble  deeds  of  the  past. 

Many  an  interesting  chapter  might  have  been 
written  on  the  quiet  and  almost  unknown  heroism  of 
pioneer  physicians,  preachers,  priests,  sisters  of  charity, 
nuns,  and  teachers  of  the  early  days.  California's  his- 
tory is  full  of  the  deeds  of  heroic  men  who  regarded 
their  own  lives  not  at  all  in  the  face  of  every  kind  of 
danger, — snow  storms,  sand  storms,  cloudbursts,  floods, 
falling  trees,  hostile  Indians,  wild  animals  and  cruel 
and  bloodthirsty  banditti.  Bret  Harte  has  given  some 
vivid  pictures  of  them,  which,  creatures  of  his  own 
imagination  though  they  be,  were  yet  largely  true  to 
fact  and  convey  a  generally  accurate  idea  of  the  spirit 


INTRODUCTION  ix 

of  the  times.     Books  by  the  dozen  might  be  written, 
all  worthy  of  careful  perusal,  telling  of  the  incredible 
hardships  endured  by  patient   and  silent  nuns  and 
sisters  of  charity  as  they  engaged  in  their  humanitarian 
work  of  educating  the  young,  relieving  the  distressed, 
caring  for  the  sick,  and  reclaiming  the  wayward  in 
those    early    days,    before    comfortable    homes    were 
provided   for   themselves.     And   the   pioneer   priests 
and  preachers  of  all  churches  and  creeds!    What  an 
army  of  self-sacrificing  heroes  were  they,  whose  names 
and  histories  will  never  be  fully  recorded  on  earth. 
Riding  to  and  fro  over  mountains,  plains  and  desert, 
their  lives  in  constant  jeopardy,  preaching  in  the  open 
air,  in  saloons,  in  dance-halls,  anywhere,  so  long,  as 
they  could  get  a  hearing,  fearlessly  counselling  men 
against  the  vices  they  loved  and  urging  them  to  live 
the  virtues  they  hated,  the  pioneer  minister  of  the  gospel 
performed  tasks  which  were  not  for  weaklings.    Only 
men  strong,  physically,  mentally  and  spiritually,  were 
capable  of  doing  their  work,  and  doing  it  well,  for 
scepticism  and  infidelity  often  went   hand  in  hand 
with  profligacy  and  vice,  and  it  was  no  uncommon 
thing  for  men  inflamed  with  evil  passions  and  intoxi- 
cated with  liquor  to  threaten  the  lives  of  those  who 
dared  rebuke  their  vices  and  incite  them  to  purer  and 
holier  living. 

The  pioneer  teachers,  too,  who  endured  poverty, 
isolation,  and  weary  heart-longings  in  their  zeal  to 
educate  the  growing  youth  of  the  new  California,  — 
what  a  debt  the  State  and  country  owes  to  them. 

It  will  be  noticed  that  I  have  no  chapter  on  John 


x  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

Charles  Fremont,  the  distinguished  explorer  of  Cali- 
fornia's early  days.  This  omission  is  not  an  act  of 
inadvertence.  I  felt  that  General  Fremont's  work 
was  so  fully  treated  in  all  the  histories  of  the  State,  and 
every  phase  of  his  character  so  fully  presented,  by  more 
learned  and  able  writers  than  myself,  that  it  would  be  a 
piece  of  perfunctory  duty  to  introduce  anything  of 
mine  about  him  in  these  pages.  Hence  I  deemed  it  the 
wiser  course  to  say  nothing,  except,  in  these  introduc- 
tory words,  to  commend  to  the  youth  of  the  State  his 
passion  for  knowledge,  his  determination  that  it  should 
be  as  accurate  as  possible,  his  foresight  as  organizer 
of  a  large  party  of  explorers,  his  fearless  plunging  into 
unknown  and  untried  dangers,  his  cool  courage  and 
clear  judgment  when  in  the  midst  of  events  and  occur- 
rences that  could  not  fail  to  try  men's  very  souls.  He 
was  a  great  man  and  a  natural  genius,  whose  life  is 
well  worth  extended  study. 

I  should  have  liked  to  write  about  the  heroism  of  the 
brave  men  and  women  of  San  Francisco,  and  other 
parts  of  the  State,  who  were  made  homeless,  and  many 
of  them  destitute,  by  the  great  earthquake  and  fire 
of  1906.  It  would  have  made  a  thrilling  chapter  to 
have  recounted  how  they  arose  in  their  undaunted 
courage,  and  set  to  work  to  reestablish  their  places  of 
business,  and  their  residences  upon  the  piles  of  ashes 
and  wreck  left  by  the  disaster.  Here  was  collective 
heroism  such  as  the  world  never  before  saw.  Scarce 
a  whimperer,  scarce  a  falterer,  scarce  a  deserter,  though 
desolation  and  ruin  were  on  every  hand.  As  serene 
.and  indifferent  as  though  this  great  disaster  were 


INTRODUCTION  xi 

but  a  trifling  and  passing  episode,  the  work  of  rebuilding 
the  city  has  gone  on  until  now,  four  years  after,  com- 
paratively little  remains  to  be  done  to  hide  completely 
the  work  of  shake  and  fire. 

Who,  then,  shall  say  that  heroism  is  of  the  past? 
That  daring  and  bravery,  physical  and  moral,  belong 
not  to  the  men  of  to-day  ?  To  the  doubter,  the  caviller, 
the  pessimist  I  point  to  the  living  examples  set  forth  in 
these  pages  and  to  the  new  and  triumphant  glory  of 
San  Francisco,  who  now,  as  surely  as  when  Bret  Harte 
wrote  the  words: 

"  Serene,  indifferent  to  Fate, 
Sittest  at  the  Western  Gate; 

The  Warder  of  two  Continents  I  " 

I  would  not  have  it  thought  that,  in  presenting  these 
sketches,  I  indiscriminately  praise  everything  con- 
nected with  the  lives  of  the  persons  whose  heroism  is 
commended.  Unfortunately  I  have  yet  to  find,  even  in 
California,  the  perfect  human  being  —  the  man  or  the 
woman  who,  in  all  things,  is  great,  heroic,  wise,  pure 
and  good.  But  I  do  not  feel  justified  in  withholding  my 
small  meed  of  praise  from  any  person  who  in  one, 
or  many,  things  has  manifested  heroism,  because  he 
has  not  in  all  things  lived  a  perfect  life.  I  have  extolled 
the  spirit  of  Padre  Serra,  and  in  many  respects  I  bow 
down  my  soul  in  reverence  before  him.  I  have  written 
honestly  and  truthfully  what  I  feel  in  regard  to  his 
self-abnegation,  his  self-discipline,  his  heroic  pioneer- 
ing; yet  there  are  some  things  about  this  great  and 
good  man  that  do  not  appeal  to  me  as  they  do  to  those 


xii  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

of  his  own  faith.  In  Beckwourth's  book  there  are 
statements  in  regard  to  his  sale  of  liquor  to  Indians. 
If  Beckwourth  were  alive  to-day  and  were  to  do  busi- 
ness in  the  manner  there  described,  I  would  hasten  to 
the  nearest  court  and  swear  out  a  warrant  for  his 
arrest,  and  urge  the  officials  to  see  that  he  received 
severe  punishment.  Yet  his  bravery  is  worthy  of  emu- 
lation; as  also  is  that  of  James  Capen  Adams,  whose 
hunting  instincts  do  not  seem  at  all  commendable  to 
me.  Pattie  wras  a  brave  and  heroic  character,  yet  his 
trapping  of  animals  for  their  fur  I  regard  as  inhuman 
and  cruel,  and  I  believe  such  trapping  should  be  sup- 
pressed by  law.  I  also  think  that  he  showed  too  great 
a  readiness  to  shoot  Indians,  and  to  take  revenge  upon 
all  Indians  for  the  crimes  of  some.  I  look  up  with  great 
respect  to  the  commanding  genius  of  Judge  Field,  yet 
some  of  the  decisions  which  he  rendered  do  not  meet 
my  sense  of  justice;  and  I  can  see  in  the  acts  of  the 
"  Big  Four,"  who  created  the  Central  Pacific  Railway, 
many  things  that  lay  them  open  to  censure  and  con- 
demnation. 

So,  my  young  and  older  readers,  do  not  take  my 
praise  as  indiscriminate.  Look  for  the  good  in  men,  — 
as  I  have  done  in  the  examples  here  presented  —  and 
extol,  honor  and  emulate  that;  the  things  that  are 
weak  or  evil  ignore  and  avoid. 

I  do  not  claim  that  all  the  extracts  I  have  made 
are  literature,  —  that  they  possess  that  pure  literary 
quality  which  sets  them  above  the  common  writing  of 
ordinary  men,  —  but  I  do  claim  that  none  of  them  are 
bad,  from  the  literary  standpoint;  and,  what  to  me  is 


INTRODUCTION  xiii 

better  than  the  mere  choice  and  arrangement  of  the 
words  is  that  they  are  all  good  from  the  standpoint  of 
the  spirit.  They  contain  the  fire,  the  energy,  the  life, 
the  sparkle  of  living  men.  In  them  is  no  conjuring  up 
of  fictitious  emotion  while  quietly  seated  in  a  comfort- 
able library,  surrounded  by  every  luxury.  The  men 
and  women  who  wrote  the  stories  from  which  these 
extracts  were  taken,  lived  the  life,  and  therefore  are 
entitled  to  all  the  respect  and  attention  which  the  human 
heart  naturally  confers  upon  the  actual  doer  of  things, 
as  differentiated  from  the  mere  dreamer  or  writer  about 
them. 

If  this  book  helps  to  arouse  thought,  excite  desire  for 
further  study  of  the  lives  of  the  pioneers,  builders  and 
heroes  of  the  State,  and  stimulate  longing  to  be  filled 
with  their  heroic  spirit,  so  that  the  rising  generation 
may  bring  to  the  problems  that  will  confront  them, 
and  the  work  they  must  accomplish,  the  same  energy, 
bravery,  self-sacrifice,  self-discipline,  high  endeavor 
and  exalted  purpose  shown  in  the  past,  then,  indeed, 
will  the  time,  thought  and  energy  spent  in  its  arrange- 
ment be  more  than  repaid,  and  its  author  fully  grati- 
fied. 


PASADENA,  August,  1910. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PACK 

I.    THE  DAUNTLESS   HERO-EXPLORER,  ALAR- 
CON  I 

II.    THE  WATCHFUL  HERO-COMMANDER,  MEL- 

CHIOR  DIAZ  4 

III.  *  THE  SELF-SACRIFICING,  SELF-DISCIPLINING, 

PIONEER   MISSIONARY   HERO,   JUNIPERO 
SERRA 7 

IV.  THE    INDEFATIGABLE    HERO,  CAPTAIN  DE 

ANZA 16 

V.    THE  FAITHFUL  HERO,  PADRE  SARRIA         .       24 

VI.    THE  UNTERRIFIED  HERO-TRAPPER,  JAMES 

O.  PATTIE 28 

VII.    THE    HERO    OF    THE    SIERRAS,   JEDEDIAH 

SMITH 4° 

VIII.    THE  TYPICAL  HERO  OF  EARLY  GOLD  DAYS, 

JOHN  BIDWELL  45 

IX.    THE  GREAT-HEARTED  HERO  OF  THE  SNOWS, 

CHARLES  T.  STANTON        ....       56 

X.    THE  MIDNIGHT  HEROINE  OF  THE   PLAIN, 

VIRGINIA  REED 64 

XI.    THE  GENEROUS  HEROES  OF  DEATH  VALLEY, 

MANLY  AND  ROGERS 73 

XII.    THE  UNKNOWN  HEROES  OF  DEATH  VALLEY      86 

XIII.  THE   WATCHFUL    HERO    Scours,   CARSON 

AND  BEALE  94 

XIV.  SAILOR  HEROES  OF  PIONEER  TIMES    .        .     104 


xvi  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PACK 

XV.    THE    RECKLESS   HERO  OF   INDIAN   FAME, 

JAMES  P.  BECKWOURTH      ....     109 

XVI.    THE  DARING  HEROES  OF  THE  PONY  EXPRESS 

AND  THE  OVERLAND  STAGE       .       .  123 

XVII.  THE  STREET-PREACHING  HERO  OF  '  FORTY- 
NINE,"  WILLIAM  TAYLOR  ....  137 

XVIII.  THE  FEARLESS  Civic  HERO  OF  SAN  FRAN- 
CISCO, JAMES  KING  OF  WILLIAM  .  .  154 

XIX.     THE     ELOQUENT    HERO    OF     PATRIOTISM, 

THOMAS  STARR  KING 171 

XX.    THE  HEROIC  HUNTER  OF  GRIZZLY  BEARS, 

JAMES  CAPEN  ADAMS  ....'.     180 

XXI.  THE  MAIL-CARRYING  HERO  OF  THE  SNOW- 
CROWNED  SIERRAS,  SNOW-SHOE  THOMP- 
SON   195 

XXII.  THE  MOUNTAIN-CLIMBING  HEROES  OF  THE 
SIERRAS,  CLARENCE  KING  AND  RICHARD 
COTTER  207 

XXIII.  THE  ENGINEERING  HERO  OF  THE  SIERRAS, 

THEODORE  D.  JUDAH         .       .       .       .221 

XXIV.  THE     BUILDING    HEROES    OF    THE    CEN- 

TRAL PACIFIC,  HUNTINGTON,    STANFORD, 
CROCKER  AND  HOPKINS      .       .       .       .231 

XXV.    THE     BRILLIANT     HERO     OF     INTELLECT, 

STEPHEN  J.  FIELD 245 

XXVI.     THE    SAVING    HERO    OF     PHILANTHROPY, 

JAMES  LICK 261 

XXVII.    THE  TENACIOUS  HERO  OF  THE  COMSTOCK, 

ADOLPH  SUTRO 273 

XXVIII.    THE   FAR  SIGHTED  HERO  OF  THE  ORANGE 

COLONY,  JOHN  WESLEY  NORTH       .       .     292 

XXIX.    THE    OUTSPOKEN    HERO  OF  THE    PUBLIC 

SERVICE,  J.  W.  POWELL         .       .       .     309 


CONTENTS 


xv  n 


CHAPTER 

XXX.    THE    PRACTICAL   HERO    OF    INVENTION, 
ANDREW  SMITH  HALLIDIE 

XXXI.  THE  INTREPID  HEROES  OF  A  GENTLE 
SCIENCE,  JOHN  GILL  LEMMON  AND  SARA 
PLUMMER  LEMMON  

XXXII.     THE  STUDIOUS  HERO  OF  THE  MOUNTAINS, 
JOHN  MUIR 

XXXIII.  THE  TENDER  HEROINE  OF  INDIAN  FRIEND- 

SHIP, HELEN  HUNT  JACKSON 

XXXIV.  THE  PERSISTENT  HERO  OF  A  GREAT  HIS- 

TORY, HUBERT  HOWE  BANCROFT 

XXXV.  THE  PATIENT  HERO  OF  AGRICULTURE, 
LUTHER  BURBANK  

XXXVI.     THE  SYMPATHETIC  HERO  OF  LAND  REFORM, 
HENRY  GEORGE 

XXXVII.     THE  INVENTIVE  HERO  OF  MOUNT  LOWE, 
THADDEUS  S.  C.  LOWE 

XXXVIII.  THE  RECLAMATION  HEROES  OF  THE  COLO- 
RADO DESERT,  WOZENCRAFT,  ROCKWOOD 
AND  CHAFFEY 

XXXIX.     THE  POET  HERO  FOR  HUMANITY,  EDWIN 
MARKHAM    

XL.     THE  HONEST  HERO  OF  THE  FREE  HARBOR, 
STEPHEN  M.  WHITE         .... 

XLI.     THE    EXECUTIVE    HERO    OF    IRRIGATION, 
WILLIAM  ELLSWORTH  SMYTHE 

XLII.     THE  PIONEER  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA.  AN 
ADDRESS  BY  JUDGE  DAVID  BELDEN 

XLIII.     BIBLIOGRAPHY 

INDEX 


322 
338 
36i 
374 
385 
401 


437 
451 
459 
465 

482 

494 
503 


LIST    OF    ILLUSTRATIONS 

Staging  in  1849,  in  the  Sierras  of  California         Frontispiece 

FACING 
PAGE 

On  the  Colorado  River  which  Alarfon  Ascended  .  .  4 

Mud  Volcanoes  in  the  Colorado  Desert  ....  4 

A  Chemehuevi  mother  and  child 5 

A  Chemehuevi  basket  maker 5 

Statue  of  Father  Junipero  Serra,  Golden  Gate  Park, 

San  Francisco 22 

Junipero  Serra 23 

Indians  on  the  Colorado  Desert;  descendants  of  one 

of  the  tribes  met  by  MeJchior  Diaz  ....  36 
The  Colorado  River  near  where  Diaz  had  his  fight  with 

the  Indians  •  ....  37 

A  group  of  California  Indians,  descendants  of  those 

missionized  by  Padre  Serra  and  his  co-workers  .  .  37 

A  Chemehuevi  Madonna 50 

Chemehuevi  maidens  making  mesquite  drink  .  .  50 
On  the  road  that  Serra  traveled  coming  up  to  San  Diego 

from  La  Paz  . 51 

The  fort  at  Tubac,  Arizona,  from  which  De  Anza 

brought  some  of  his  soldiers 51 

A  Yuma  Indian,  descendant  of  one  of  those  who  guided 

Juan  Bautista  de  Anza 64 

An  Indian  camp  near  Tumacacori 65 

The  mission  of  Tumacacori,  from  which  place  De  Anza 

marched  to  the  founding  of  San  Francisco   ...  80 


xx  LIST    OF -ILLUSTRATIONS 


PAGE 


A  Mohave  mother  and  child 81 

Yuma  Indian  water  carrier 81 

The  Rancho  Chico,  1854,  John  Bid  well's  home      .       .  96 

John  Bidwell's  first  cattle  brand 96 

Juan  Bautista  de  Anza's  house,  Tubac,  Arizona   .        .  97 
Donner  Party  memorial  cross,  near  Donner  Lake,  Cal- 
ifornia      97 

Donner  Lake,  California 1 12 

General  View  of  the  Colorado  Desert       .        .        .        .112 
A  Glimpse  of  the  slope  of  Death  Valley,  the    Funeral 

Mountains  in  the  distance 113 

A  bucking  horse  in  the  heart  of    the  Colorado  Desert  126 
Ten  miles  south  of  Furnace  Creek,  Death  Valley    .        .126 

Alexander  Majors 127 

William  Taylor 144 

Virginia  Reed  Murphy 144 

San  Francisco  in  1849,  from  tne  head  of  Clay  Street     .  145 
Pioneers  lined  up  for  their  mail  at  the  Post  Office,  corner 

of  Pike  and  Clay  Streets,  San  Francisco,  in  1849       .  145 

Thomas  Starr  King 172 

John  Bidwell.    Taken  in   1880 172 

James  Capen  Adams 173 

John  A.  Thompson 196 

Snow  shed  in  the  Sierras     .        .        .        .       .        .  197 

Theodore  D.  Judah .        .  212 

The   High    Sierra,   California,   crossed    by   the    Central 

Pacific  Railway 213 

The  High  Sierras  surveyed  by  Theodore  Judah     .        .  213 

The  Palisades  of  the  Humboldt  River,  Nevada,  through 

which  the  Central  Pacific  Railway  runs      .        .        .  226 


LIST    OF    ILLUSTRATIONS  xxi 


FACING 
PAGE 


Snow  plow  on  the  Central  Pacific  Railway,  in  the  High 

Sierras 227 

"  Driving  the  last  spike  "     .        . 242 

James  Lick 243 

The  Summit,  Lick  Observatory,  Mt.  Hamilton,  Cali- 
fornia       268 

Main  Building,  Lick  Observatory,  Mt.  Hamilton,  Cal.  268 
Thirty-six  inch  refractor,  Lick  Observatory,  Mt.  Hamil- 
ton, Cal 269 

Monument,  City  Hall  Square,  San  Francisco          .        .  269 
One  of  the  mines  of  Virginia  City,  Nevada,  on  the  cele- 
brated Comstock  Lode        .        .        .    ,   ,        .        .        .  278 
Sutro  Baths,  looking  east,  May  I,  1896  ....  279 

Adolph  Sutro ,       .       .       .  288 

J.  W.  North 288 

Flower  vases  and  main  gate,  Sutro  Heights,  San  Fran- 
cisco         289 

Mission   arches  at  the  Glenwood   Mission   Inn,   River- 
side, Cal 294 

Cross    dedicated     to    Fra   Junipero     Serra,     Rubidoux 

Mountain,  Huntington  Park,  Riverside,  Cal.       .        .  295 
Parent   Washington    navel    orange    tree,   court    of   the 

Glenwood  Mission  Inn,  Riverside,  Cal.        .        .        .  304 

Orange  Grove,  Riverside,  California          ....  305 

John  W.  Powell .  314 

J.  G.  Lemmon 315 

S.  A.  Plummer  Lemmon 315 

John    Muir    and    John    Burroughs    discussing    animal 

sagacity 330 

Yosemite   Valley,  from  Artist's  Point,  California   .        .331 

John  Muir,  resting  by  the  side  of  a  High  Sierra  lakelet  350 


xxii          LIST    OF    ILLUSTRATIONS 


PAGB 


Hubert  Howe  Bancroft's  Historical  Library,  San  Fran- 
cisco         351 

Hubert  Howe  Bancroft 374 

Luther  Burbank 374 

Luther  Burbank 's  Birthplace,  Lancaster,  Mass.       .        .  375 

Luther  Burbank's  Old  Home,  Santa  Rosa,  Cal.    .        .  392 
Luther  Burbank's  New  Home,  side  view,  Santa  Rosa, 

Cal 392 

Professor  and  Mrs.  T.  S.  C.  Lowe 393 

The  Great  Incline  on  the  Mount  Lowe  Railway  .        .  432 
Circular  Bridge  on  the  Mount  Lowe  Railway  overlooking 

Pasadena  and  the  San  Gabriel  Valley     ....  433 

Alpine  Tavern,  Mount  Lowe 446 

A  camp  of  ditch-makers  in  Imperial  Valley,  1901     .        .  447 

Egyptian  Corn,  Imperial  Valley,  in  1907         .        .        .  447 

Edwin  Markham 452 

A  "  playa  "  or  bed  of  a  dry  lake  in  the  Colorado  Desert  453 

A  beet  field  in  Imperial  Valley,  1907       ....  453 
Edwin  Markham  at  his  cottage,  where  he  wrote  "  The 

Man  with  the  Hoe,"  Oakland,  California     .        .        .  460 
The  wharves,  interior  of  San  Pedro  Harbor,  Los  Angeles, 

Cal 461 

The  Atlantic  Fleet  sailing  into  San  Pedro  Harbor, 

Los  Angeles,  Cal 464 

Combined  harvester  and  thrasher  on  ranch  of  H.  M. 

Kinney,  Imperial  Valley 465 

One  of  the  irrigating  ditches  which  have  made  the  change 

in  the  Imperial  Valley 465 

Judge  David   Belden 484 

William  Ellsworth  Smythe 484 


HEROES   OF   CALIFORNIA 


CHAPTER   I 

THE  DAUNTLESS  HERO  -  EXPLORER,   ALARCON 

TWO  names  are  intimately  associated  with  the 
discovery  of  the  mouth  of  the  Colorado  River, 
which  forms  the  boundary  line  between  the  southern 
portions  of  Arizona  and  California.  These  names  are 
Ulloa  and  Alarcon.  The  stories  of  their  respective 
voyages  have  often  been  told,  yet  the  important  differ- 
ence in  the  spirit  of  the  two  explorers  has  not  been 
emphasized  as  it  should  be. 

Fearful  of  losing  his  hard-earned  power,  Corte*s,  the 
conqueror  of  Mexico,  desired  to  extend  his  explora- 
tions and  incidentally  his  conquests.  His  successes 
had  aroused  the  jealousy  of  several  eminent  men, 
among  others,  Mendoza,  the  Viceroy  of  New  Spain, 
who  was  doing  his  best  to  surpass  Cortes  hi  achieve- 
ment. Accord  ingly,  he  equipped  three  vessels  and 
sent  them  forth  from  Acapulco,  Mexico,  under  the 
command  of  Francisco  de  Ulloa,  with  instructions  to 
sail  north,  and  take  possession  of  all  new  lands  dis- 


2  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

covered,  for  God  and  the  King  of  Spain.  During 
this  voyage  Ulloa  discovered  the  Peninsula  of  Cali- 
fornia and  the  Gulf  of  California,  which  he  named  the 
Sea  of  Corte"s.  While  at  the  head  of  this  gulf  he  found, 
as  he  says:  "  the  sea  to  run  with  so  great  a  rage  into 
the  land  that  it  was  a  thing  much  to  be  marvelled  at ; 
and  with  the  like  fury  it  returned  back  again  with  the 
ebb,  during  which  time  we  found  eleven  fathom  of 
water,  and  the  flood  and  ebb  continued  from  five  to 
six  hours." 

The  following  day,  Ulloa  and  the  ship's  pilot  went 
to  the  ship's  top,  and  saw  the  land  circling  around 
to  the  west;  and  they  speculated  upon  the  cause 
of  the  ebb  and  flow  of  the  day  before.  Lakes  were  sug- 
gested, and  some  one  thought  "  that  some  great  river 
there  might  be  the  cause  thereof." 

Instead  of  exploring  this  inlet  and  finding  out  for 
himself,  Ulloa  was  content  to  sail  away  south.  He 
thus  proved  himself  either  incompetent  for  the  task 
that  Corte*s  had  given  him,  in  that  he  did  not  realize  the 
possible  importance  of  following  up  the  current ;  afraid 
lest  he  might  wreck  his  vessels;  or  too  lazy  to  undertake 
what  he  knew  might  require  hard  work. 

It  should  need  little  or  no  comment  to  show  that 
Ulloa  was  not  possessed  of  the  true  spirit;  that  he  was 
unworthy  the  high  trust  reposed  in  him. 

Now  let  us  see  the  spirit  in  which  Alarfon  accom- 
plished his  task.  He  was  ordered  by  the  Viceroy 
Mendoza  to  sail  northward  with  two  vessels,  and 
cooperate,  as  far  as  possible,  with  the  great  land  ex- 
pedition of  Coronado,  which  was  being  sent  out  to 


THE    EXPLORER,    ALARCON  3 

the  discovery  of  what  we  now  know  as  Arizona  and 
New  Mexico. 

In  due  time  he  reached  the  same  place  described 
by  Ulloa,  where  the  great  tide  had  courted  investiga- 
tion. At  once  he  decided  that,  as  he  wrote  afterward, 
"  even  though  I  had  known  I  should  have  lost  the 
ships,"  he  would  discover  the  secret  of  the  Gulf.  Ac- 
cordingly boats  were  lowered  and  sent  ahead  to  find  a 
channel,  and  the  ships  were  taken  up  until  the  current 
was  so  strong  and  the  shoals  so  numerous  that  all 
three  vessels  went  aground,  and  were  placed  in  great 
danger.  But  even  this  did  not  daunt  Alarcon.  The  re- 
turn of  the  tide  freed  the  vessels  from  the  sands,  and 
they  were  anchored  in  a  place  of  safety.  Then  he 
prepared  to  ascend  the  river  in  two  of  his  small  boats. 
Here  was  a  true  explorer.  Bold  yet  cautious,  deter- 
mined yet  not  reckless,  full  of  foresight  yet  resolute 
and  daring!  He  prepared  for  hostile  Indians  and 
hardships  of  every  conceivable  kind,  and,  thus  equipped, 
pushed  forward  up  the  river  for  the  great  distance  of 
eighty-five  leagues. 

It  is  needless  for  our  purpose  to  study  his  adventures 
further.  His  name  and  memory  will  always  be  hon- 
ored by  true  Californians  as  the  man  who  dared, 
and  who,  as  the  result  of  his  daring,  is  entitled  to  the 
honor  of  being  called  "  the  discoverer  of  the  Colorado 
River." 


CHAPTER   II 

THE  WATCHFUL  HERO- COMMANDER,  MELCHIOR  DIAZ 

ANOTHER  member  of  the  Viceroy's  exploring 
party  was  Melchior  Diaz,  who  had  gone  with 
Coronado  into  the  heart  of  the  country.  After  Coronado 
had  reached  his  destination,  he  despatched  Diaz  across 
country  to  find  Alarcon.  In  due  time  Diaz  reached 
the  Colorado  River,  followed  it  down  to  the  Gulf, 
found  that  Alarcon  had  sailed,  and  then  returned  up 
the  river  to  see  if  any  messages  had  been  left  by  the 
latter,  intending  finally  to  report  to  Coronado  at 
Cibola.  He  had  several  interesting  experiences,  but 
the  one  which  I  wish  were  better  known  is  as  follows: 

While  he  was  on  his  way  up  the  river,  he  wished  to 
cross  from  the  Arizona  to  the  California  side.  He  had 
but  twenty-five  men  and  here  is  the  way  the  historian 
Castaneda  tells  the  story: 

"  After  they  had  gone  five  or  six  days,  it  seemed  to 
them  as  if  they  could  cross  on  rafts.  For  this  purpose 
they  called  together  a  large  number  of  the  natives,  who 
were  waiting  for  a  favorable  opportunity  to  make  an 
attack  on  our  men,  and  when  they  saw  that  the  strangers 
wanted  to  cross,  they  helped  make  the  rafts  with  all 
zeal  and  diligence,  so  as  to  catch  them  in  this  way  on 
the  water  and  drown  them,  or  else  divide  them  so  that 
they  could  not  help  one  another.  While  the  rafts  were 


ON    THE    COLORADO    RIVER    WHICH    AI.ARCON   ASCENDED. 

Page  3 


MUD    VOLCANOES    IN   THE    COLORADO    DESERT.       DIAZ   LANDED 
NEAR    HERE. 

Page  4 


MELCHIOR    DIAZ  5 

being  made,  a  soldier,  who  had  been  out  around  the 
camp,  saw  a  large  number  of  armed  men  go  across  to 
a  mountain,  where  they  were  waiting  till  the  soldiers 
should  cross  the  river.  He  reported  this,  and  an  Indian 
was  quietly  shut  up,  in  order  to  find  out  the  truth .  .  .  and 
he  told  all  the  arrangements  that  had  been  made.  These 
were,  that  when  our  men  were  crossing  and  part  of 
them  had  got  over  and  part  were  on  the  river  and  part 
were  waiting  to  cross,  those  who  were  on  the  rafts 
should  drown  those  they  were  taking  across  and  the 
rest  of  their  force  should  make  an  attack  on  both 
sides  of  the  river.  If  they  had  had  as  much  discretion 
and  courage  as  they  had  had  strength  and  power,  the 
attempt  would  have  succeeded. 

"  When  he  knew  their  plan,  the  captain  had  the 
Indian  who  had  confessed  the  affair  killed  secretly, 
'and  that  night  he  was  thrown  into  the  river  with  a 
weight,  so  that  the  Indians  would  not  suspect  that 
they  were  found  out.  The  next  day  they  noticed  that 
our  men  suspected  them,  and  so  they  made  an  attack, 
shooting  showers  of  arrows,  but  when  the  horses  began 
to  catch  up  with  them  and  the  lances  wounded  them 
without  mercy  and  the  musketeers  likewise  made  good 
shots,  they  had  to  leave  the  plain  and  take  to  the  moun- 
tain, until  not  a  man  of  them  was  to  be  seen.  The 
force  then  came  back  and  crossed  all  right,  the  Indian 
allies  and  the  Spaniards  going  across  on  the  rafts  and 
the  horses  swimming  alongside  the  rafts." 

Diaz  showed  himself  a  watchful  and  a  prudent  cap- 
tain. He  knew  he  was  in  a  place  of  danger,  and  this 
made  him  unusually  cautious,  both  for  himself  and  his 


6  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

men.  He  was  alert  and  thoughtful,  and  there  is  little 
doubt  that  the  soldier  who  went  around  the  camp  and 
discovered  the  large  force  of  Indians  on  the  other  side, 
was  sent  out  as  a  scout  by  him.  The  brave  and  cour- 
ageous man  is  not  the  man  who  is  reckless  and  indiffer- 
ent, but  the  man  who,  knowing  the  dangers  that  sur- 
round him,  is  alert,  cautious,  watchful  and  prudent. 


CHAPTER   III 

THE   SELF-SACRIFICING,    SELF- DISCIPLINING,    PIONEER 
MISSIONARY-HERO,    JUNIPERO    SERRA 

IN  these  days  of  material  progress,  and  with  our  whole 
nation  regarding  the  acquisition  of  riches  as  the 
clearest  proof  of  success,  it  seems  to  me  that  it  is  well 
for  our  youth  to  look  closely  into  the  lives  of  those  men 
who  constructed  the  foundations  upon  which  our  State 
is  built. 

Serra  was  a  very  simple-hearted  man,  yet  in  three 
special  realms  he  claims  the  reverent  attention  of  the 
youth  of  the  State  of  which  he  was  the  first  and  greatest 
of  a  large  army  of  pioneers. 

Without  entering  into  tedious  details,  it  is  well  to 
recall  that  Serra  was  born  hi  1713,  at  Petra,  in  the 
Island  of  Majorca  —  one  of  the  islands  of  the  Mediter- 
ranean, under  the  control  of  the  King  of  Spain.  When 
he  was  seventeen  he  became  a  novitiate  of  the  Fran- 
ciscan Order,  and  when  he  took  the  final  vows  he 
assumed  the  name  of  Junipero,  after  the  friend  and 
companion  of  St.  Francis  of  Assisi,  who  was  the 
founder  of  the  Order  of  Franciscans. 

In  due  time,  he  became  a  professor  hi  one  of  the 
colleges  and  a  Doctor  of  Divinity.  He  then  began 
to  preach,  and  tke  simple-minded  fervor  of  so  learned 
a  man,  combined  with  his  clear-headed  way  of  looking 


8  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

at  things,  soon  brought  him  great  fame  as  a  pulpit 
orator.  He  had  the  wonderful  faculty  of  satisfying  the 
educated  and  refined  as  well  as  the  illiterate  and 
vulgar.  He  reached  rich  and  poor  alike.  As  a  teacher 
he  was  equally  successful.  The  pathway  to  fame  and 
honor  was  clearly  open  to  him.  All  he  had  to  do  was 
to  continue  as  he  had  begun,  and  there  was  little  he 
might  not  have  attained.  The  Church  of  Rome  has 
never  been  niggardly  in  its  gifts  to  its  able  sons,  and 
here  was  one  who  was  worthy  of  her  greatest  gifts  and 
highest  honors.  Yet  he  wilfully  and  cheerfully  turned 
away  from  this  glowing  and  alluring  pathway,  and 
begged  to  be  sent  away  over  a  new,  dark,  and  unknown 
road  —  the  road  to  the  missionary  field  among  savages, 
where  trials,  dangers,  difficulties,  and  possibly  death 
awaited  him. 

Serra  dared  to  do  the  thing  that  appealed  to  the 
very  highest  in  his  nature.  He  dared  to  fling  himself 
in  absolute  and  perfect  trust  upon  God.  He  had 
but  one  aim,  —  to  serve  God  in  blessing  the  savages  to 
whom  he  asked  to  be  sent.  He  dared  to  be  free! 

The  theology  of  Dante  was  a  terrible  reality  to  Serra. 
Only  to  such  an  absorption  of  belief  was  his  work 
possible.  Hell,  the  awful,  material  hell  Dante  so 
vividly  and  powerfully  portrays,  burning  with  flames 
of  inconceivable  torture  forever  and  forever,  with 
all  its  dire  circles  of  horror  for  those  who  were  unbe- 
lievers in  the  Christ  he  worshipped,  yawned,  as  he 
thought,  before  the  feet  of  these  untamed  and  rude 
natives.  If  they  should  be  trained  into  a  knowledge 
of  the  Church  and  its  saving  ordinances  by  an  apostolic 


JUNIPERO    SERRA  9 

guide,  they  could  attain  a  new  hereafter.  Purgatory  was 
open,  and  from  thence,  duly  purged  from  their  sin 
and  ignorance,  they  might  climb  into  the  blessed  regions 
of  Paradise.  Felicity  untold,  then,  to  that  man  who 
would  brave  their  savagery,  dare  their  treachery,  love 
them  even  in  their  unlovableness,  and  thus  lead  them 
into  the  fold  of  the  Church. 

Who  should  do  it?  Should  he,  Serra,  with  his  soul 
atnirst  for  great  deeds  for  God,  stand  by,  in  order  to 
listen  to  the  applause  of  the  civilized  world  as  his  words 
of  burning  eloquence  pleased  their  cultured  ears, 
and  let  some  half-hearted,  half- in-earnest  priest  go 
out  to  these  degraded  and  needy  savages?  No!  The 
greater  their  need  and  danger,  the  greater  the  necessity 
for  speed,  power,  and  earnestness  in  the  one  who  should 
go  to  them.  So,  begging  permission  to  leave  the  world 
and  its  vain  applause,  society  and  its  caresses,  civiliza- 
tion and  its  luxurious  comforts,  casting  all  these  things 
behind  him,  he  gladly,  joyfully  set  forth  to  do  his 
chosen  work  as  missionary. 

Such  was  his  burning  zeal  that  four  of  his  close 
college  companions  were  dominated  by  the  same  desire, 
and  in  due  time  these  five — Serra,  Palou,  Crespi,  Verges, 
and  Vincens  —  found  themselves  at  Cadiz  ready  to 
ship  for  Vera  Cruz,  en  route  to  the  City  of  Mexico, 
where  the  College  of  San  Fernando,  the  head  house 
of  the  Franciscan  Order  in  the  new  world,  was 
located. 

On  the  voyage,  Serra's  boundless  devotion  and 
enthusiasm  would  not  let  him  rest.  He  recited  the 
mass  daily,  and  then  incited  the  sailors  and  others 


io  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

to  come  and  confess  to  him,  and  during  long  hours  into 
the  night  he  was  engaged  in  this  pious  duty. 

Water  was  very  scarce.  Instead  of  complaining  and 
making  matters  worse,  he  took  the  deprivation  as  a 
means  of  training,  and  naively  remarked,  when  asked  if 
he  did  not  suffer  from  thirst: 

"Not  specially,  since  I  have  found  out  the  secret  of 
not  feeling  thirsty,  which  is  to  eat  little  and  talk  less, 
so  as  not  to  waste  the  saliva." 

On  their  arrival  at  Vera  Cruz,  the  officials  had  pro- 
vided saddle  animals  to  carry  the  whole  band  of  mis- 
sionaries over  the  three  hundred  mile  stretch  between 
that  city  and  the  City  of  Mexico.  Few  people  would 
have  seen  in  this  anything  but  the  most  reasonable 
provision  for  their  safe  transportation.  But  Serra, 
with  an  eye  absolutely  single  to  the  work  he  wished 
to  do,  and  to  which  he  had  sacredly  devoted  his  life, 
found  in  it  an  opportunity  for  self-discipline.  He 
talked  with  his  companion,  Palou,  persuaded  him  into 
agreement,  and  then  begged  his  superiors  to  allow  them 
to  walk!  When  asked  for  his  reasons,  he  explained 
that  he  was  sent  to  labor  among  the  most  degraded  and 
hostile  of  savage  tribes,  where  hardship  and  severe  labor 
would  be  his  daily  experience.  He  desired  that  every 
act  of  his  life  should  be  an  act  of  conscious  self-dis- 
cipline, preparation,  training  for  everything  that  might 
be  before  him. 

Permission  was  given,  and  he  and  his  colleague, 
without  provisions  or  guide,  started  forth  on  that  long 
tramp,  determined  to  rely  solely  on  Providence  and  the 
goodness  of  the  people  whom  they  should  meet. 


JUNIPERO    SERRA  u 

Of  his  life  in  Mexico  prior  to  the  time  he  was  sent 
forth  as  the  padre  presidente  of  the  California  missions 
there  is  not  room  here  to  speak.  Suffice  it  to  say  that 
he  did  his  highest  duty  with  earnest  enthusiasm  and 
fervent  zeal.  In  a  later  work  I  hope  fully  to  present  the 
whole  life  and  labors  of  Serra. 

When  the  Jesuits  were  expelled  from  the  missions  of 
Lower  California  in  1767  Serra  was  put  in  charge  of 
the  Franciscans  who  were  sent  in  their  places.  Then 
the  onward  and  upward  move  to  the  colonization  and 
missionization  of  Upper  California  was  decided  upon 
and  Serra  was  required  to  take  charge  of  this  work. 
Hence  he  became  the  first  of  the  army  of  California 
pioneers  to  whom  the  Golden  State  never  tires  of  doing 
honor. 

It  is  hard  for  us  of  to-day  to  realize  what  it  meant  for 
Serra  to  come  to  California.  He  left  congenial  work, 
devoted  associates,  loving  friends,  honor,  applause, 
fame  and  advancement  in  the  eyes  of  men,  to  bury 
himself  hi  the  unexplored  wilds  of  a  new  coun- 
try. 

In  his  own  land  he  had  been  one  of  the  most  popu- 
lar and  appreciated  preachers,  honored  and  beloved. 
Here,  the  best  that  can 'be  said  is  that  he  received  the 
half  adoring  reverence  of  a  part  of  the  ignorant, 
though  rudely  affectionate  aborigines  to  whom  he  came 
to  minister,  while  the  remainder  bore  him  open  hostility 
and  bitter  hatred.  Even  those  who  gave  him  their 
allegiance  did  not  have  the  faintest  comprehension 
of  what  he  was  endeavoring  to  do  for  them,  and  he  had 
to  humor  their  whims  and  caprices,  their  prejudices  and 


12  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

superstitions,  as  a  mother  humors  her  petulant  and 
self-willed  child. 

Here  was  a  pioneer,  indeed,  in  that  he  had  no  home 
to  come  to.  His  home  had  to  be  in  his  own  soul.  In 
one  sense,  he  had  not  where  to  lay  his  head,  for  there 
were  no  homes  —  in  the  way  in  which  we  use  the 
word  —  in  the  land  to  which  he  came.  There  were 
only  the  rude,  open,  wicker-work  or  tule  shacks  of 
the  aborigines,  full  of  filth  and  vermin,  and  foul  with 
the  accumulated  odors  of  the  uncleanness  of  many  sea- 
sons. The  hard  but  hospitable  bosom  of  Mother  Earth 
became  his  pallet;  like  Jacob,  he  used  a  stone  for  a 
pillow;  the  open  air  was  his  coverlet,  and  the  ineffable 
blue  of  the  sky,  pictured  with  moon,  planets,  stars  and 
Milky  Way,  his  ceiling ;  the  howling  of  coyotes,  the  wild 
shriek  of  the  panther,  the  growl  of  the  grizzly,  the  hoot 
of  the  owl,  the  soft  cooing  of  the  mourning  dove,  and 
all  the  queer,  soothing,  startling,  conflicting  night 
sounds  of  trees,  shrubs,  insects,  birds  and  beasts  be- 
came the  varied  orchestra  that  sang  him  to  sleep,  or 
quickened  his  waking  hours. 

He  was  a  pioneer,  indeed,  in  that  he  came  to  no 
settled  community  where  materials  for  the  erection  of 
homes  and  churches  were  to  be  purchased.  Everything 
was  in  the  raw  state.  He  had  to  hew  the  trees,  saw 
the  lumber,  make  the  bricks,  follow  every  shift  and 
device  that  necessity  became  the  mother  of,  ere  he 
could  begin  to  build,  and  then,  —  who  was  to  build 
for  him.  He  became  his  own  architect,  contractor  and 
master-mason,  and  the  human  material  he  had  to 
work  with  and  train  to  do  his  bidding  was  even  worse 


JUNIPERO    SERRA  13 

than  the  raw  physical  material  of  which  the  structures 
were  to  be  erected.  Untrained,  uncouth,  undisci- 
plined savages,  who,  for  centuries,  had  followed  their 
own  will,  were  practically  all  upon  whom  he  could  call. 
They  were  unused  to  control,  impatient  of  restraint, 
incompetent  to  use  their  hands  and  eyes  in  strange 
labor,  unable  to  see  the  necessity  for  care  in  doing 
what  they  were  told  to  do,  shiftless,  unreliable  and 
crafty  in  escaping  from  work  they  disliked.  It  is  not 
easy  for  the  ordinary  man  to  imagine  the  sublime  and 
exalted  faith,  the  fearless  and  urgeful  courage,  the 
tireless  and  undaunted  energy  that  could  undertake 
the  building  of  such  majestic  missions  under  these 
disadvantageous  conditions.  And  it  must  be  remem- 
bered that  Serra  and  his  coadjutors  did  not  come  to  a 
people  who  were  in  sympathy  with  his  beliefs,  his 
faith,  his  Church.  With  even  a  small  band  of  believing 
adherents  to  rely  upon,  the  fight  would  not  have  been 
so  hard,  but  he  had  to  instruct,  convert,  win  his  people 
while  they  were  working  for  him,  or  even  before  they 
would  begin  to  work,  and  in  either  case  this  added  a 
gigantic  obstacle  to  anything  like  rapid  progress. 

To  make  even  nominal  Christians  of  these  conserva- 
tive and  superstitious  Indians  was  in  itself  a  great 
achievement,  but  to  do  it,  and  at  the  same  time  lead 
them  to  perform  steady  labor  and  become  reliable 
workmen  in  the  face  of  their  dislike  to  confining  work 
and  teach  them  obedience  and  submission  to  restraint, 
was  a  task  requiring  genius  and  tact  of  a  very  high 
order.  Such  genius  and  tact  Serra  must  have  possessed, 
for  he  achieved  the  results,  and  not,  as  many  believe,  by 


i4  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

sheer  force  of  arms  and  the  exercise  of  military  control. 
It  is  true  that  he  had  a  small  band  of  soldiers  as  escort 
and  guard,  but  what  was  such  a  handful  compared 
with  the  thousands  of  brave,  fearless  and  warlike 
aborigines,  had  they  been  driven  by  cruel  treatment 
to  open  hostility  and  defiance  of  an  authority  they  had 
not  yet  learned  to  fear? 

Brave  is  that  pioneer  who  goes  into  a  new  land  where 
there  are  no  corn-fields,  no  orchards,  no  gardens; 
where  one  must  carry  with  him  the  seeds  to  plant  for 
food,  and  wait  until  after  the  clearing,  the  plowing,  the 
sowing,  for  the  coming  of  the  harvest. 

This  bravery  was  Serra's,  for  he  and  his  co-workers 
took  so  little  food  with  them  that  in  their  first  year  at 
San  Diego  the  missionaries  would  have  starved,  had 
it  not  been  for  the  hospitality  and  generosity  of  the 
Indians,  who  gave  freely  of  their  rude  provisions 
to  the  strangers  who  had  come  to  live  among 
them. 

Herds  of  cattle,  sheep  and  horses  there  were  none; 
stores  of  supplies  and  manufactories  were  unknown. 
There  were  no  roads,  no  means  of  conveyance.  Nothing 
was  provided.  Every  article  needed  had  to  be  brought 
up  that  long,  weary  desert  and  mountainous  peninsula, 
or  by  sea,  or  over  the  Arizona  and  Colorado  Deserts, 
or  else  it  must  be  created  on  the  spot.  These,  then, 
were  the  conditions  under  which  Serra  began  and 
carried  on  his  labors.  For  years  he  journeyed,  on  foot, 
up  and  down  the  coast  from  San  Diego  to  San  Fran- 
cisco, for  the  rules  of  his  Order  required  him  to  walk 
when  possible.  Several  times  he  traveled,  either  by 


JUNIPERO    SERRA  15 

sea  or  land,  back  and  forth  to  confer  with  the  State 
and  Church  officials  in  Mexico. 

In  view  of  these  facts,  the  work  of  Serra  becomes 
nothing  less  than  marvelous.  He  lived  to  see  ten 
missions  established,  —  San  Diego,  San  Carlos,  San 
Antonio  de  Padua,  San  Gabriel,  San  Luis  Obispo, 
San  Francisco  de  Asis,  San  Juan  Capistrano,  Santa 
Clara,  San  Buenaventura  and  Santa  Barbara,  as  well 
as  the  presidios  of  San  Diego,  Monterey,  San  Francisco 
and  Santa  Barbara.  He  died  and  was  buried  in  the 
mission  of  San  Carlos  Carmelo,  where  his  ashes  still 
rest. 


CHAPTER   IV 

THE   INDEFATIGABLE  HERO,    CAPTAIN  DE   ANZA 

TT  7"HEN  President  McKinley  wished  to  send  a 
message  to  General  Garcia  of  the  Cuban  forces, 
the  question  arose  as  to  who  could  be  found  to  under- 
take the  task.  No  one  knew  exactly  where  Garcia 
was;  he  was  surrounded  by  Spaniards  who  sought  his 
life,  and  by  Cubans  who  were  jealously  guarding  it. 
It  was  necessary  that  the  message  be  sent  secretly, 
for  the  United  States  did  not  wish  to  inform  Spain 
beforehand  that  she  had  decided  to  take  up  the  cause 
of  Cuba. 

A  man,  however,  was  found  hi  Lieutenant  Rowan, 
who  asked  no  questions,  raised  no  objections,  but, 
with  a  glint  hi  his  eye  and  determination  in  his  voice, 
when  asked  if  he  thought  he  could  reach  Garcia,  re- 
plied, "  I  think  so!  I'll  try! "  The  world  knows  of 
his  success. 

Juan  Bautista  de  Anza  was  a  man  of  the  Rowan 
type,  and  every  true  Californian  should  know  all  about 
his  two  historic  trips  from  Northern  Mexico  to  San 
Francisco. 

When  the  early  Franciscan  missions  and  the  first 
presidios  (San  Diego  and  Monterey)  were  established 
in  California,  the  Spanish  officials  decided  that  it  would 
be  an  advantage  to  have  a  means  of  direct  communica- 


CAPTAIN   DE   ANZA  17 

tion  overland  from  Northern  Mexico  to  Alta  or  Upper 
California.  Hitherto  all  travel  to  California  had  been 
either  by  sea,  or  across  the  Gulf  and  then  up  the  pen- 
insula, —  a  long,  wearisome  journey,  even  after  the 
Gulf  had  been  crossed.  It  was  also  decided  to  establish 
missions  about  midway  between  Sonora  and  San  Ga- 
briel, on  the  Colorado  River,  thus  affording  travelers 
a  place  where  they  could  rest  and  recuperate. 

The  responsibility  of  finding  this  road  was  placed 
upon  Captain  de  Anza,  a  brave  and  honorable  soldier, 
whose  father  was  also  an  officer  of  repute.  At  this 
time  he  was  the  commander  of  the  presidio  of  Tubac, 
in  Sonora,  a  little  settlement  now  on  the  United  States 
side  of  the  Mexican  border,  and  some  fifty  miles  south 
of  Tucson. 

The  route  to  be  traversed  was  over  the  inhospitable 
desert  region  to  the  Gila  River,  down  its  course  to  its 
junction  with  the  Colorado  River,  and  thence  over  an- 
other and  unknown  desert  to  the  Mission  San  Gabriel. 

It  is  interesting  to  recall  the  fact  that  a  quantity  of 
"  red  tape  "  had  to  be  gone  through  in  those  days  before 
Captain  de  Anza  could  start  upon  his  journey.  Padre 
Serra  first  petitioned  the  Viceroy  of  Mexico  and  the 
King  of  Spain;  the  petition  was  favorably  endorsed  by 
the  former,  and  then  duly  considered  by  the  king  and 
his  Council  at  Madrid,  granted,  and  a  license  issued, 
allowing  and  authorizing  the  expedition.  This  was 
probably  in  September  of  the  year  1773. 

With  two  priests,  a  dozen  men  and  twenty  soldiers,  De 
Anza  was  prepared  to  start,  when  he  received  a  fore- 
taste of  what  he  might  expect  on  his  trip.  The  Apache 


i8  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

Indians  made  a  raid  on  his  camp,  killed  some  of  his 
men  and  stole  a  number  of  his  horses. 

Now  a  brave  man  does  not  allow  danger  to  deter 
him  from  his  purposes,  but  it  makes  him  cautious  and 
careful.  De  Anza  knew  that  he  was  liable  to  attack 
all  the  way  along  from  these  murderous  Apaches,  who 
hated  the  sight  of  the  white  men.  His  route  lay  over  a 
hot  and  sandy  desert,  that  wearies  the  people  of  to-day 
when  they  speed  over  it  in  an  elegant  Pullman  car, 
sheltered  from  all  danger,  and  provided  with  every 
luxury.  The  piercing  rays  of  the  sun,  scant  and  vile 
water,  little  or  no  forage  for  horses,  no  food  for  human 
beings,  wild  animals  and  poisonous  reptiles,  mile  after 
mile  of  cruel  cactus,  acres  of  blinding  alkali,  whirl  winds 
of  hot  sand,  fearful  heat  at  noonday  and,  at  times, 
fearful  cold  at  midnight,  —  these  were  some  of  the 
obstacles  and  terrors  he  knew  he  would  have  to  meet 
and  overcome. 

Yet,  without  waiting  for  reinforcements,  his  handful 
of  soldiers  made  nervous  and  fearful  by  the  sudden 
death  of  their  close  companions,  he  struck  out  over 
the  pathless  desert,  laughing  at  fierce  heat,  mocking 
mirage,  blinding  alkali,  choking  sand-laden  air,  in  the 
strong  conviction  that  the  spirit  of  a  man  overcomes 
everything  that  can  come  against  him,  even  to  the  Gates 
of  Death,  if  he  keeps  his  soul  clean  and  his  hands  pure. 
Accompanying  the  party  were  sixty-five  cattle  and 
one  hundred  and  forty  horses  for  the  use  of  the  officials 
and  missions  in  California. 

Before  they  reached  the  Colorado  River,  they  were 
met  by  a  Papago  Indian,  who  warned  them  that  some 


CAPTAIN   DE   ANZA  19 

of  the  Yumas  were  decidedly  unfriendly  and  had 
threatened  to  "  loot  the  whole  outfit."  But  when  the 
Yumas  were  finally  reached,  Palma,  their  chief,  who 
was  well  known  to  one  of  the  padres  of  the  party, 
welcomed  them  and  gave  every  assurance  of  hospi- 
tality and  trustworthiness. 

From  now  on  the  journey  became  more  arduous 
than  before.  The  scarcity  of  pasture  and  water  for  the 
animals  rendered  it  impossible  to  take  them  along, 
so  they  were  left  in  charge  of  a  few  men  and  the  Indian, 
Palma,  while  the  rest  faced  the  perils  of  the  Colorado 
Desert.  It  took  them  twenty  days  to  reach  the  newly- 
founded  Mission  of  San  Gabriel,  with  their  clothing 
in  tatters,  and  out  of  supplies  of  every  kind.  Here  the 
party  became  somewhat  divided,  one  of  the  padres  with 
some  of  the  men  going  to  San  Diego,  the  other  and 
more  men  back  to  the  Yumas,  while  De  Anza,  with  but 
six  men,  hurried  on  to  Monterey  and  almost  immedi- 
ately returned  to  San  Gabriel.  In  eight  days  more  he 
was  with  the  padre  at  the  Colorado  River,  and  fifteen 
days  later  he  was  back  at  his  starting-point,  his  own 
presidio  of  Tubac. 

The  whole  of  this  several-hundred-mile  journey, 
it  must  be  remembered,  was  made  on  horseback,  and 
everything  the  party  needed  had  to  be  taken  along 
on  pack-animals. 

When  I  hear  people  speaking  of  being  "  exhausted  " 
by  a  five  hundred,  or  a  thousand,  mile  ride  on  the  cars, 
where  every  comfort  is  provided  and  all  hardships 
are  eliminated;  when  I  see  the  young  men  of  to-day 
riding  a  few  blocks  on  the  street  car  to  avoid  the  exer- 


20  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

tion  of  walking,  and  see  them  taking  "  bracers  "  to 
overcome  the  effects  of  some  slight  labor  that  should 
be  a  pleasure  to  a  healthful  person,  I  wish  that  we 
might  have  a  few  Captain  de  Anzas  to  set  a  fresh 
example  of  tireless  energy,  total  disregard  of  hardships, 
and  ready  accomplishment  of  the  severest  duties. 

But  De  Anza's  first  trip  was  merely  to  ascertain  if 
a  route  could  be  found.  He  had  proven  that  it  was 
feasible,  and  was  therefore  empowered  to  gather  colo- 
nists and  recruit  soldiers  for  a  settlement  and  presidio 
to  be  established  on  the  newly  discovered  bay  of  San 
Francisco.  His  party  started  out  just  one  year  before 
the  signing  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  —  in 
the  year  1775.  Doubtless  on  account  of  the  success 
of  his  first  trip,  De  Anza  had  been  promoted  from 
captain  to  lieutenant-colonel.  Three  priests  started 
with  the  expedition,  two  of  whom  left  diaries,  from 
which  most  of  our  details  of  the  trip  are  gleaned.  The 
party  was  composed  of  four  officers  besides  the  lieuten- 
ant-colonel, three  priests,  eighteen  veteran  soldiers, 
twenty  recruits,  twenty-nine  wives  of  soldiers,  and  one 
hundred  and  thirty-six  persons  of  both  sexes  —  the 
colonists.  Then  there  were  twenty  muleteers  for  the 
three  pack-trains,  seven  servants  and  three  Indians, 
making  a  grand  total  of  two  hundred  and  forty  persons. 
There  were  six  hundred  and  ninety  five  mules  and 
horses,  and  three  hundred  and  fifty-five  cattle. 

Imagine  this  expedition  starting  out  and  journeying 
day  by  day.  Dr.  Coues,  the  translator  of  Padre  GarceV 
diary,  tells  of  the  daily  order : 

"  At  the  proper  hour  in  the  morning  the  order  was 


CAPTAIN   DE  ANZA  21 

given  to  round  up  the  horses  and  mules,  the  soldiers  and 
servants  going  for  the  horses  and  the  packers  for  the 
mules.  While  these  people  were  packing  and  saddling, 
Padre  Font  used  to  say  mass,  as  there  was  plenty  of 
time.  As  soon  as  the  three  pack-trains  were  ready 
to  start,  the  commanding  officer  gave  the  order  to 
mount  —  Vayon  subiendo !  and  they  all  mounted, 
forming  a  column  in  this  wise:  Four  soldiers  went 
ahead  as  scouts.  De  Anza  led  off  with  the  vanguard. 
Font  came  next,  and  after  him  came  men,  women,  and 
children,  escorted  by  soldiers;  then  the  lieutenant 
brought  up  the  rear-guard.  Behind  these  followed  the 
three  pack-trains,  with  the  loose  horses,  and  last  of  all 
the  beef-herd.  As  soon  as  they  started,  Font  would 
strike  up  a  hymn,  the  Alabado,to  which  all  the  people 
responded.  The  column,  as  may  be  easily  seen,  was  a 
very  long  one,  even  when  well  closed  up.  On  making 
camp,  when  they  had  dismounted,  the  lieutenant  came 
to  report  to  the  commanding  officer  whether  they  were 
all  up,  or  any  had  been  left  behind,  and  receive  his 
orders.  At  night  the  people  recited  their  beads,  each 
family  by  itself,  and  finished  by  singing  the  Alabado 
or  Salve,  or  something  of  that  sort,  every  one  for 
himself,  and  Font  remarks  that  the  variety  had  a 
very  pleasing  effect.  There  were  so  many  people 
that  when  they  encamped  it  looked  like  a  regular 
settlement,  with  the  shelters  that  the  soldiers  made 
with  their  cloaks  and  blankets  on  boughs,  and  with 
the  thirteen  tents  of  the  company  —  nine  for  the 
soldiers  and  the  others  for  the  officers  and  com- 
mandante." 


22  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

It  was  a  wonderful  trip  over  the  desert,  and  it  re- 
quired no  little  courage,  leadership  and  knowledge  to 
get  such  a  party  over  the  sandy  wastes.  It  was  mid- 
winter, and  the  cold  was  intense,  for,  in  marked  con- 
trast to  De  Anza's  former  trip,  they  were  met  day  after 
day  with  storms  of  hail,  snow  and  rain.  And  when  it  is 
cold  on  the  desert,  it  seems  colder  than  anywhere  else. 
The  thinned  blood  feels  it  more,  and  the  absence  of 
moisture  makes  the  heat  radiation  so  rapid  that  it  is 
not  surprising  to  read  in  De  Anza's  diary  that  the  people 
suffered  cruelly.  There  was  much  sickness  but  no 
fatalities.  About  a  hundred  head  of  stock  were  lost, 
as  water  was  so  scarce  that  the  fevered  animals  could 
not  be  restrained  from  breaking  away  in  search  of  it. 
The  party  often  had  to  be  divided,  so  that  all  should 
not  reach  the  water-holes,  with  their  poor  and  scant 
supply,  at  the  same  time.  Wells  were  dug  in  many 
places.  The  scarcity  of  feed  for  the  animals  was  another 
source  of  great  discomfort. 

On  reaching  San  Gabriel,  they  were  delayed  for  a 
time  by  news  of  the  uprising  at  San  Diego,  when  the 
Indians  murdered  Padre  Jayme,  and  De  Anza  himself 
went  down  to  the  scene  of  the  trouble.  It  was  not 
until  February  of  1776  that  they  started  for  the  north. 
This  was  a  weary  journey,  for  the  winter  rains  made 
the  roads  almost  impassable,  and  even  the  women  and 
children  had  to  walk.  Yet  on  the  tenth  of  March  they 
all  arrived  safely  and  happily  at  Monterey,  where  Serra 
himself  was  hi  waiting  to  congratulate  and  welcome 
them. 

Worry  or  overwork  or  something  had  upset  De  Anza, 


STATUE  OF  FATHER  JUNIPERO   SERRA,  GOLDEN  GATE   PARK,  SAN 
FRANCISCO. 

Page  7 


JUNIPERO    SERRA. 

From  the   painting  in   the   Hotel   del    Monte,   Monterey,    Cal.,   after  the 
original  painting  in  the  City  of  Mexico. 

Page  7 


CAPTAIN   DE  ANZA  23 

and  for  a  few  days  he  was  confined  to  his  bed  in  Mon- 
terey; then,  contrary  to  the  advice  of  his  physicians, 
he  rode  to  San  Francisco  —  for  upon  his  decision  largely 
depended  the  choice  of  the  site  where  the  San  Francisco 
mission  was  to  be  established  —  explored  the  region 
pretty  thoroughly,  and  finally  chose  the  place  where  the 
old  Dolores  Mission  now  stands.  It  was  not  until 
September  17,  however,  that  the  presidio  was  estab- 
lished, and  the  mission  on  October  9.  But,  his  work 
done,  De  Anza  delayed  not  an  hour.  He  returned 
south,  reported  to  Governor  Rivera,  and  on  the  second 
of  May  started  back  for  Sonora,  where  he  safely  ar- 
rived on  the  eighteenth  day  of  June. 


CHAPTER   V 

THE   FAITHFUL  HERO,    PADRE    SARRIA 

THE  romance  of  the  Missions  has  never  been 
written.  Possibly,  as  the  years  go  by,  the  writers 
of  fiction  will  see  more  and  more  the  possibilities  af- 
forded by  the  lives  of  the  old  padres,  the  play  of  wit 
between  the  intellectual  and  educated  Spaniards  and 
the  keen,  shrewd,  uneducated  Indians,  the  solitude  and 
isolation  of  the  padres'  lives,  the  temptations  of  the 
flesh,  all  the  passion  and  emotion,  the  joy  and  sorrow 
that  compass  the  lives  of  human  beings  whether  rude 
and  illiterate  or  refined  and  sensitive,  out  of  which  to 
weave  their  stories  of  "  fiction  more  true  than  life." 
Helen  Hunt  Jackson  in  Ramona,  preceded  by  Bret 
Harte  in  several  of  his  short  stories,  Mary  Austin  in 
Isidro,  Marah  Ellis  Ryan  in  The  Soul  of  Rafael,  Con- 
stance Goddard  Du  Bois  in  A  Soul  in  Bronze,  and  Mrs. 
A.  S.  C.  Forbes  in  her  Mission  Tales  in  the  Days  of 
the  Dons  have  all  done  good  work  in  this  line,  but  the 
days  to  come  will  see  much  more  written  on  the  same 
subject.  When  a  library  of  books  shall  have  been 
accumulated,  each  one  dealing  with  this  epoch  of 
California  life,  there  will  be  not  one  containing  more  real 
pathos,  real  power  than  the  simple  truth  told  about 
Padre  Francisco  Vicente  de  Sarria,  who  died  of  starva- 
tion at  the  Mission  Soledad  in  1835. 


THE   FAITHFUL   HERO,    SARRIA      25 

Sarria  came  to  California  in  June,  1809,  and  in 
1812  he  was  elected  Comisario  prejecto  of  the  missions. 
By  this  office  he  was  made  superior  to  the  president 
of  the  Missions  in  all  temporal  affairs,  and  was  the 
delegate  of  the  Franciscan  Commissary  General  of 
the  Mother  House  in  the  City  of  Mexico.  He  entered 
into  this  work  with  quiet  dignity  and  a  solemn  recog- 
nition of  the  responsibilities  of  the  office.  In  1813 
he  addressed  a  letter  to  all  the  missionaries  of  the 
State,  which  in  every  way  is  a  model.  In  spirit  it 
breathes  true  devotion  and  anxiety  for  the  care  of  the 
souls  of  both  Indians  and  Spaniards;  in  composition 
it  is  clear,  forceful  and  well  expressed,  and  in  hand- 
writing it  is  regular  and  beautiful.  A  copy  in  his  own 
hand  is  to  be  found  in  the  archives  at  San  Carlos  Mis- 
sion, Monterey.  In  this  letter  he  enjoined  a  strict 
compliance  with  the  rules  of  St.  Francis  (the  founder 
of  the  Order),  and  especially  urged  the  padres  to 
acquire  the  Indian  language  so  as  to  be  able  to  teach 
the  catechism  and  give  other  religious  instruction  in  the 
native  tongue.  He  bade  them  not  to  forget  their  duties 
to  the  Spaniards,  and  alluded  to  the  management  of 
the  temporal  affairs  as  a  duty  which  must  not  divert 
their  attention  from  their  more  important  spiritual 
obligations. 

Sarria  lived  during  that  very  trying  period  in  Mexican 
history  when  Mexico  threw  off  the  yoke  of  Spam  and 
became,  in  1821,  an  independent  empire  under  Itur- 
bide.  The  new  empire,  however,  did  not  last  long,  for  in 
March,  1823,  Iturbide  was  compelled  to  abdicate  and 
flee  the  country,  and  on  his  surreptitious  return  in 


26  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

1824  was  captured,  tried,  sentenced  and  shot.  The 
country  now  became  a  republic,  and  California  was 
made  a  province  of  the  new  federation.  While  the 
change  of  government  practically  affected  California 
very  little,  all  the  officers  and  the  missionaries  were 
required  to  take  oath  that  they  would  be  loyal  to  the 
new  powers.  Padre  Sarria  was  a  Spaniard,  full  of 
love  for  his  native  country,  conservative  to  a  high 
degree,  and,  while  a  missionary  in  a  foreign  land 
which  he  sincerely  accepted  as  his  home  so  long  as  his 
superiors  required  him  to  do  so,  still  regarded  Spain 
as  "  home,"  and  himself  as  one  of  its  loyal  sons.  Hence 
it  was  impossible  for  him  to  swear  allegiance  to  any 
foreign  power,  and  especially  when  that  power  had 
come  into  existence  through  revolt  to  the  Spain  of  his 
love  and  devotion.  Again  and  again,  year  after  year, 
he  was  called  upon  to  "  swear,"  and  each  time,  calmly 
yet  positively,  he  gave  the  same  reply.  He  was  so 
beloved  by  the  Spanish  people  and  soldiers  as  well  as 
by  the  Indians,  that  the  governors,  one  after  another, 
felt  it  would  be  dangerous  to  punish  him  in  any  way,  or 
to  do  as  they  were  authorized  to  do,  —  namely,  banish 
him  or  send  him  as  a  prisoner  to  Mexico.  So,  salving 
then-  official  consciences  by  reporting  the  case  with  its 
difficulties  to  the  Federal  officials  in  Mexico,  they  did 
nothing.  Thus  Sola,  Arguello  and  Echeandia  in  turn 
were  required  to  place  him  under  arrest,  and  send  him 
to  Mexico,  yet  each  evaded  the  orders;  and  while, 
ostensibly,  he  was  under  arrest  for  several  years,  and 
liable  to  be  exiled  at  any  moment  —  for  the  order  was 
thrice  renewed  —  he  lived  on  with  his  beloved  Indians, 


THE   FAITHFUL    HERO,    SARRIA      27 

calmly  and  quietly  discharging  his  duties,  and  paying 
no  attention  to  the  excitement  of  politics  which  seemed 
of  so  great  importance  to  others. 

Gleeson,  the  historian,  thus  tells  the  story  of  Padre 
Sarria's  last  days: 

"  Soledad,  of  which  Padre  Sarrfa  was  pastor,  was 
once  a  flourishing  Christian  settlement,  possessing  its 
hundreds  of  converts  and  thousands  of  cattle.  Want  had 
never  been  known  there  from  the  time  of  its  foundation 
up  to  the  moment  of  confiscation.  Immediately  upon 
the  change,  however,  so  great  was  the  plunder  and 
devastation  of  everything  belonging  to  the  Mission 
that  the  Father  who  remained  at  his  post  with  a  few  of 
the  Indians  was  unable  to  obtain  the  ordinary  neces- 
saries of  life.  Yet,  reduced  as  he  was  to  the  greatest 
extremity,  he  would  not  abandon  the  remnant  of  his 
flock.  For  thirty  years  he  had  labored  among  them, 
and  now,  if  necessary,  he  was  ready  to  die  in  their 
behalf.  Broken  down  by  years  and  exhausted  by 
hunger,  one  Sunday  morning  in  August,  the  holy  old 
man  assembled  hi  his  little  church  the  few  converts  that 
remained  to  him.  It  was  the  last  time  that  he  was  to 
appear  before  these  natives.  Hardly  had  he  com- 
menced the  holy  sacrifice  of  the  mass  when  his  strength 
completely  failed  him;  he  fell  before  the  altar  and 
expired  in  the  arms  of  his  people,  for  whom  he  had 
so  zealously  and  earnestly  labored.  Noble  and  worthy 
death  for  a  Spanish  missionary  priest! " 


CHAPTER   VI 

THE  UNTERRIFIED  HERO- TRAPPER,  JAMES  O.  PATTIE 

'T"VHERE  are  some  men  who  are  born  adventurers 
•*•  and  explorers.  The  quiet,  calm,  uneventful  life 
of  ordinary  dwellers  in  towns  and  villages  is  distasteful 
to  them.  They  are  men  of  the  open,  of  activity,  of 
resolution,  of  intrepidity,  of  courage,  —  men  to  whom 
adventure  is  as  the  breath  of  their  nostrils.  To  keep 
such  men  in  the  monotony  of  civilized  existence  is 
impossible.  They  are  destined  to  be  wanderers,  and, 
in  the  past,  had  their  faculties  been  trained  and  they 
themselves  encouraged  to  make  due  reports  of  their 
wanderings,  the  world  at  large  might  have  received 
much  benefit  from  the  knowledge  they  could  have 
communicated.  Fortunately,  here  and  there,  a  man 
with  a  literary  turn  of  mind  did  write  and  publish  the 
account  of  his  travels;  in  other  cases,  literary  men 
transcribed  and  published  them.  One  of  the  most 
interesting  of  such  accounts  ever  published  in  the 
United  States,  dealing  (amongst  other  regions)  with 
California,  is  that  of  James  O.  Pattie,  a  trapper  of 
Kentucky,  who  for  six  years  journeyed  from  St.  Louis 
across  the  plains  into  New  Mexico  and  Upper  and 
Lower  California.  He  and  his  companions  came  down 
the  Colorado  River  almost  to  the  Gulf,  then  crossed  the 
peninsula  to  two  of  the  Jesuit  Missions  of  Lower  Cali- 


JAMES  O.   PATTIE  29 

fornia,  reached  the  Pacific,  were  taken  as  prisoners  to 
San  Diego,  and  there  kept  in  prison  for  several  months. 
Here  his  father  died  and  was  buried.  Pattie  was  re- 
leased on  his  undertaking  to  vaccinate  the  Spaniards 
and  Indians  of  California,  —  which  he  did,  claiming 
to  have  inoculated  in  all  twenty-three  thousand  five 
hundred  persons.  He  finally  returned  to  the  United 
States  by  way  of  Mexico. 

To  give  a  mere  resume*  of  Pattie's  adventures  would 
be  impossible,  but  to  show  the  spirit  of  the  man,  and 
to  incite  in  the  youth  of  California  a  desire  to  familiarize 
themselves  with  these  interesting  records,  I  propose 
to  make  a  few  extracts  which  serve  as  samples  of  the 
three  hundred  pages  of  which  his  Narrative  is  com- 
posed. To  this  man  adventure  was  an  every-day  ex- 
perience; what  to  most  men  would  be  hardships  un- 
endurable was  his  daily  life.  Almost  indifferent  to 
danger,  yet  watchful  and  cautious;  full  of  energy  and 
restlessness;  wearied  in  a  few  days  or  weeks  with  the 
ordinary  life  of  a  settlement;  of  a  buoyant  disposition 
that  speedily  rebounded  from  disappointment,  and 
that  could  never  long  be  despondent  no  matter  how 
serious  the  evils  that  had  befallen  him,  his  narrative 
bears  the  stamp  of  truth.  Contemporary  history  in 
the  main  confirms  his  story,  so  that  it  may  be  accepted 
as  truthful  and  genuine. 

Dr.  R.  G.  Thwaites,  in  his  Introduction  to  a  recent 
edition  of  Pattie's  Narrative,  says  : 

"  For  three  generations  the  Patties  had  been  fron- 
tiersmen. Restlessly  they  moved  onward  as  the  border 
advanced,  always  hovering  upon  the  outskirts  of  civ- 


30  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

ilization,  seeking  to  better  their  condition  by  taking 
up  fresh  lands  in  untilled  places,  and  remorsely  fight- 
ing the  aborigines  who  disputed  their  invasion.  They 
longed  unceasingly  for  new  adventures  in  the  mysteri- 
ous West,  that  allured  them  with  its  strange  fascination. 
Brave,  honest,  God-fearing,  vigorous  in  mind  and 
body,  dependent  on  their  own  resources  for  food,  and 
for  defence  chiefly  dependent  on  the  familiar  rifle,  the 
Patties  belonged  to  that  class  of  Americans  who  con- 
quered the  wilderness,  and  yearly  pushed  the  frontier 
westward." 

Pattie  and  his  father  joined  a  noted  trapper,  Bernard 
Pratte,  of  St.  Louis,  in  an  expedition  composed  of  one 
hundred  and  sixteen  persons.  The  father  was  made 
military  commander  of  the  caravan,  which  journeyed 
across  the  plains  and  mountains  into  New  Mexico. 

"  Pattie  was  surprised  at  the  primitive  life  and  cus- 
toms of  the  inhabitants  of  New  Mexico,  of  which  in 
a  few  unadorned  sentences  he  gives  us  a  vivid  picture. 
Passing  on  to  Santa  Fe,  the  ancient  capital,  our  ad- 
venturers were  just  in  time  to  join  a  primitive  expedi- 
tion against  a  hostile  band  of  Indians,  wherein  the 
junior  Pattie  had  the  good  fortune  to  rescue  from 
the  hands  of  the  savages  a  charming  young  Spanish 
maiden,  daughter  of  a  former  governor  of  the  province. 
The  gratitude  of  the  fair  captive  and  of  her  father  was 
profoundly  expressed,  and  their  friendship  proved  of 
lasting  value  to  the  gallant  narrator." 

Trapping  on  the  Gila  River,  fighting  Indians,  ad- 
ventures with  bears,  a  visit  to  the  copper  mines  at 
Santa  Rita,  and  the  return  to  Santa  F£  occupied  five 


JAMES   O.    PATTIE  31 

months.  The  party  then  returned  to  the  Gila  to  secure 
the  furs  they  had  buried  there,  only  to  find  their  cache 
rifled  by  the  Indians.  Again,  at  Santa  Rita,  when 
fighting  Apaches,  they  made  a  treaty  with  them,  and 
Pattie's  father  leased  the  noted  mines  which  he  suc- 
cessfully worked  for  some  time.  But  the  son  was  seized 
with  "  an  irresistible  desire  to  resume  the  employment 
of  trapping,"  and  wandered  off  again,  with  a  few  com- 
panions. For  eight  months  he  rambled  down  the  Gila 
and  Colorado  Rivers,  up  to  the  Grand  Canyon  region, 
thence  over  the  mountains  to  the  Yellowstone,  return- 
ing to  Santa  Fe  and  Santa  Rita.  After  three  days' 
rest,  he  took  another  trip  into  Mexico,  and  the  fol- 
lowing spring,  his  father  having  been  compelled  to  give 
up  his  mine,  owing  to  the  treachery  and  embezzlement 
of  a  trusted  employe,  another  expedition  was  started, 
which  led  him  down  the  Gila  and  Colorado  and  into 
California,  as  I  have  before  related. 

To  the  Californian,  the  most  interesting  portion  of 
the  narrative  is  that  which  deals  with  his  reception  in 
California,  and  his  report  of  the  conditions  he  found 
and  events  that  transpired.  "  According  to  his  account, 
he  and  his  companions  were  at  first  treated  with  severity, 
being  imprisoned  at  San  Diego  for  lack  of  passports, 
and  there  detained  for  many  months.  The  elder 
Pattie  died  in  his  cell,  without  being  permitted  to  see 
the  son  for  whose  presence  he  had  piteously  pleaded  in 
his  latest  hours.  Young  Pattie's  hatred  for  the  Mexican 
governor  (Echeandia)  was  not  unnatural;  but  the 
consequent  bitterness  of  expression  quite  distorts  his 
narrative."  The  people  in  general  treated  him  with 


32  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

kindness,  which  he  gratefully  acknowledges,  but  the 
suspicion  of  the  governor,  the  action  of  the  padres  at 
the  mission,  and  the  final  refusal  to  pay  him  for  his 
work  done  in  vaccinating  so  many  people  unless  he 
would  settle  in  the  country  and  become  a  Catholic, 
aroused  his  resentment  to  the  highest  degree.  Upon 
leaving  California,  he  thus  reflects: 

"  Those  who  traverse  it  (the  California  coast)  .  .  . 
must  be  constantly  excited  to  wonder  and  praise. 
It  is  no  less  remarkable  for  uniting  the  advantages 
of  healthfulness,  a  good  soil,  a  temperate  climate, 
and  yet  one  of  exceeding  mildness,  a  happy  mixture 
of  level  and  elevated  ground,  and  vicinity  to  the  sea." 

Even  in  those  days,  we  see,  men  could  not  help  being 
"  boosters "  for  California.  From  the  plethora  of 
interesting  matter  Pattie  gives,  it  is  hard  to  select  ex- 
tracts. Every  page  is  interesting.  Here  is  a  naive 
story  of  a  bear-shooting  near  the  Gila  River:  "We 
passed  a  cave  at  the  foot  of  the  cliffs.  At  its  mouth 
I  remarked,  that  the  bushes  were  beaten  down,  as 
though  some  animal  had  been  browsing  upon  them. 
I  was  aware  that  a  bear  had  entered  the  cave.  We 
collected  some  pine  knots,  split  them  with  our  toma- 
hawks, and  kindled  torches  with  which  I  proposed 
to  my  companion  that  we  should  enter  the  cave  to- 
gether and  shoot  the  bear.  He  gave  me  a  decided 
refusal,  notwithstanding  I  reminded  him,  that  I  had, 
more  than  once,  stood  by  him  in  a  similar  adventure; 
and  notwithstanding  I  made  him  sensible  that  a  bear 
in  a  den  is  by  no  means  so  formidable  as  when  ranging 
freely  in  the  woods.  Finding  it  impossible  to  prevail 


JAMES  O.    PATTIE  33 

on  him  to  accompany  me,  I  lashed  my  torch  to  a  stick, 
and  placed  it  parallel  with  the  gun  barrel,  so  as  that 
I  could  see  the  sights  on  it,  and  entered  the  cave.  I 
advanced  cautiously  onward  about  twenty  yards,  seeing 
nothing.  On  a  sudden  the  bear  reared  himself  erect 
within  seven  feet  of  me,  and  began  to  growl,  and  gnash 
his  teeth.  I  levelled  my  gun  and  shot  him  between  the 
eyes,  and  began  to  retreat.  Whatever  light  it  may 
throw  upon  my  courage,  I  admit,  that  I  was  in  such  a 
hurry,  as  to  stumble,  and  extinguish  my  light.  The 
growling  and  struggling  of  the  bear  did  not  at  all  con- 
tribute to  allay  my  apprehensions.  On  the  contrary, 
I  was  in  such  haste  to  get  out  of  the  dark  place,  thinking 
the  bear  just  at  my  heels,  that  I  fell  several  times  on 
the  rocks,  by  which  I  cut  my  limbs,  and  lost  my  gun. 
When  I  reached  the  light,  my  companion  declared,  and 
I  can  believe  it,  that  I  was  as  pale  as  a  corpse.  It  was 
some  time  before  I  could  summon  sufficient  courage  to 
re-enter  the  cavern  for  my  gun.  But  having  re-kindled 
my  light,  and  borrowed  my  companion's  gun,  I  en- 
tered the  cavern  again,  advanced  and  listened.  All  was 
silent,  and  I  advanced  still  further,  and  found  my  gun, 
near  where  I  had  shot  the  bear.  Here  again  I  paused 
and  listened.  I  then  advanced  onward  a  few  strides, 
where  to  my  great  joy  I  found  the  animal  dead.  I  re- 
turned, and  brought  my  companion  in  with  me.  We 
attempted  to  drag  the  carcass  from  the  den,  but  so 
great  was  the  size,  that  we  found  ourselves  wholly  un- 
able. We  went  out,  found  our  horses,  and  returned  to 
camp  for  assistance.  My  father  severely  reprimanded 
me  for  venturing  to  attack  such  a  dangerous  animal  in 


34  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

its  den,  when  the  failure  to  kill  it  outright  by  the  first 
shot,  would  have  been  sure  to  be  followed  by  my  death. 

"  Four  of  us  were  dispatched  to  the  den.  We  were 
soon  enabled  to  drag  the  bear  to  the  light,  and  by  the 
aid  of  our  beast  to  take  it  to  camp.  It  was  both  the 
largest  and  the  whitest  bear  I  ever  saw.  The  best 
proof,  I  can  give,  of  the  size  and  fatness  is,  that  we 
extracted  ten  gallons  of  oil  from  it.  The  meat  we  dried, 
and  put  the  oil  in  a  trough,  which  we  secured  in  a 
deep  crevice  of  a  cliff,  beyond  the  reach  of  animals  of 
prey.  We  were  sensible  that  it  would  prove  a  treasure 
to  us  on  our  return." 

Here  is  the  recital  of  an  experience  with  the  Mohaves, 
who  live  on  the  banks  of  the  Colorado: 

"  We  raised  a  fortification  round  our  camp  every 
night,  until  we  considered  ourselves  out  of  their  reach. 
This  evening  we  erected  no  breast-work,  placed  no 
other  guard  than  one  person  to. watch  our  horses,  and 
threw  ourselves  in  careless  security  round  our  fires. 
We  had  taken  very  little  rest  for  four  nights,  and  being 
exceedingly  drowsy,  we  had  scarcely  laid  ourselves 
down,  before  we  were  sound  asleep.  The  Indians 
had  still  followed  us,  too  far  off  to  be  seen  by  day,  but 
had  probably  surveyed  our  camp  at  night.  At  about 
eleven  o'clock  this  night,  they  poured  upon  us  a  shower 
of  arrows,  by  which  they  killed  two  men,  and  wounded 
two  more;  and  what  was  most  provoking,  fled  so 
rapidly  that  we  could  not  even  give  them  a  round.  One 
of  the  slain  was  in  bed  with  me.  My  own  hunting 
shirt  had  two  arrows  in  it,  and  my  blanket  was  pinned 
fast  to  the  ground  with  arrows.  There  were  sixteen 


JAMES  O.   PATTIE  35 

arrows  discharged  into  my  bed.  We  extinguished  our 
fires,  and  it  may  easily  be  imagined,  we  slept  no  more 
that  night. 

"  In  the  morning,  eighteen  of  us  started  in  pursuit 
of  them,  leaving  the  rest  of  the  company  to  keep  camp 
and  bury  our  dead.  We  soon  came  upon  their  trail, 
and  reached  them  late  in  the  evening.  They  were 
encamped,  and  making  their  supper  from  the  body  of  a 
horse.  They  got  sight  of  us  before  we  were  within 
shooting  distance,  and  fled.  We  put  spurs  to  our  horses, 
and  overtook  them  just  as  they  were  entering  a  thicket. 
Having  every  advantage,  we  killed  a  greater  part  of 
them,  it  being  a  division  of  the  band  that  had  attacked 
us.  ...  We  then  returned  to  our  company,  who  had 
each  received  sufficient  warning  not  to  encamp  in 
the  territories  of  hostile  Indians  without  raising  a 
breast-work  round  the  camp." 

That  Pattie's  perilous  life  was  not  a  singular  one 
is  evidenced  by  a  reference  he  makes  to  the  fate  of 
the  one  hundred  and  sixteen  companions,  with  whom 
he  originally  started  from  Santa  ¥6.  He  met  with 
some  of  them  once  in  New  Mexico,  and  inquired  what 
had  become  of  the  others: 

"  Some  had  died  by  lingering  diseases,  and  others 
by  the  fatal  ball  or  arrow,  so  that  out  of  one  hundred 
and  sixteen  men,  who  came  from  the  United  States  in 
1824,  there  were  not  more  than  sixteen  alive.  Most 
of  the  fallen  were  as  true  men,  and  as  brave  as  ever 
poised  a  rifle,  and  yet  in  these  remote  and  foreign 
deserts  found  not  even  the  benefit  of  a  grave,  but  left 
their  bodies  to  be  torn  by  the  wild  beasts,  or  mangled 


36  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

by  the  Indians.  When  I  heard  the  sad  roll  of  the  dead 
called  over,  and  thought  how  often  I  had  been  in 
equal  danger,  I  felt  grateful  to  my  Almighty  Bene- 
factor, that  I  was  alive  and  in  health.  A  strong  per- 
ception of  the  danger  of  such  courses  as  mine,  as 
shown  by  the  death  of  these  men,  came  over  my  mind, 
and  I  made  a  kind  of  resolution,  that  I  would  return 
to  my  home,  and  never  venture  into  the  woods  again." 

The  continuation  of  his  narrative  is  proof  that  he 
did  not  keep  to  his  resolution.  Here  is  an  experience 
he  had  with  some  Yumas  who  led  him  to  tramp  over 
the  desert  to  the  peninsula  missions. 

"  At  our  encampment  upwards  of  two  hundred  of 
them  swam  over  the  river  and  visited  us,  all  appar- 
ently friendly.  We  allowed  but  a  few  to  approach  our 
camp  at  a  time,  and  they  were  obliged  to  lay  aside 
their  arms.  In  the  midst  of  these  multitudes  of  fierce, 
naked,  swarthy  savages,  eight  of  us  seemed  no  more 
than  a  little  patch  of  snow  on  the  side  of  one  of  their 
black  mountains.  We  were  perfectly  aware  how 
critical  was  our  position,  and  determined  to  intermit 
no  prudence  or  caution. 

"  To  interpose  as  great  a  distance  as  possible  be- 
tween them  and  us,  we  marched  that  evening  sixteen 
miles,  and  encamped  on  the  banks  of  the  river.  The 
place  of  encampment  was  a  prairie,  and  we  drove 
stakes  fast  in  the  earth,  to  which  we  tied  our  horses  in 
the  midst  of  green  grass,  as  high  as  a  man's  head, 
and  within  ten  feet  of  our  own  fire.  Unhappily  we  had 
arrived  too  late  to  make  a  pen  for  our  horses,  or  a 
breast- work  for  ourselves.  The  sky  was  gloomy. 


George  Wharton  James,  Photo. 

THE  COLORADO  KIVER  NEAR  WHERE   DIAZ  HAD  HIS   FIGHT  WITH 
THE    INDIANS. 


Page  4 


George  Wharton  James,  Photo. 

A    GROUP    OF    CALIFORNIA    INDIANS,    DESCENDANTS    OF   THOSE 
MISSIONIZED    BY    PADRE    SERRA   AND    HIS    CO-WORKERS. 

Page  13 


JAMES   O.    PATTIE  37 

Night  and  storm  were  settling  upon  us,  and  it  was  too 
late  to  complete  these  important  arrangements.  In  a 
short  time  the  storm  poured  upon  us,  and  the  night 
became  so  dark  that  we  could  not  see  our  hand  before 
us.  Apprehensive  of  an  attempt  to  steal  our  horses, 
we  posted  two  sentinels,  and  the  remaining  six  lay 
down  under  our  wet  blankets,  and  the  pelting  of  the 
sky,  to  such  sleep  as  we  might  get,  still  preserving  a 
little  fire.  We  were  scarcely  asleep  before  we  were 
aroused  by  the  snorting  of  our  horses  and  mules.  We 
all  sprang  to  our  arms,  and  extinguished  our  little  fire. 
We  could  not  see  a  foot  before  us,  and  we  groped  about 
our  camp,  feeling  our  way  among  the  horses  and  mules. 
We  could  discover  nothing;  so  concluding  they  might 
have  been  frightened  by  the  approach  of  a  bear  or 
some  other  wild  animal,  some  of  us  commenced  re- 
kindling our  fires,  and  the  rest  went  to  sleep.  But  the 
Indians  had  crawled  among  our  horses,  and  had 
cut  or  untied  the  rope  by  which  each  one  was  bound. 
The  horses  were  then  all  loose.  Then  they  instantly 
raised  in  concert  their  fiendish  yell.  As  though  heaven 
and  earth  were  in  concert  against  us,  the  rain  began 
to  pour  again,  accompanied  with  howling  gusts  of 
wind,  and  the  fiercest  gleams  of  lightning,  and  crashes 
of  thunder.  Terrified  alike  by  the  thunder  and  the 
Indians,  our  horses  all  took  to  flight,  and  the  Indians, 
repeating  yell  upon  yell,  were  close  at  their  heels. 
We  sallied  out  after  them,  and  fired  at  the  noises, 
though  we  could  see  nothing.  We  pursued  with  the 
utmost  of  our  speed  to  no  purpose,  for  they  soon  reached 
the  open  prairie,  where  we  concluded  they  were  joined 


38  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

by  other  Indians  on  horseback,  who  pushed  our  horses 
still  faster;  and  soon  the  clattering  of  their  heels  and 
the  yells  of  their  accursed  pursuers  began  to  fade,  and 
become  indistinct  hi  our  ears. 

"  Our  feelings  and  reflections  as  we  returned  to 
camp  were  of  the  gloomiest  kind.  We  were  one  thou- 
sand miles  from  the  point  whence  we  started,  and 
without  a  single  beast  to  bear  either  our  property  or 
ourselves.  The  rain  had  past.  We  built  us  a  large 
fire.  As  we  stood  round  it  we  discussed  our  deplorable 
condition,  and  our  future  alternatives.  Something 
was  to  be  done. 

"  Driven  from  the  resource  of  our  horses,  we  happily 
turned  our  thoughts  to  another.  We  had  all  the  requi- 
site tools  to  build  canoes,  and  directly  around  us  was 
suitable  timber  of  which  to  make  them.  It  was  a 
pleasant  scheme  to  soothe  our  dejection,  and  prevent 
our  lying  down  to  the  sleep  of  despair.  But  this  alter- 
native determined  upon,  there  remained  another  ap- 
prehension sufficient  to  prevent  our  enjoying  quiet 
repose.  Our  fears  were,  that  the  unsheltered  Indians, 
horse- stealers  and  all,  would  creep  upon  us  in  the 
night,  and  massacre  us  all.  But  the  night  passed 
without  any  disturbance  from  them." 

From  this  point  they  finally  succeeded  in  starting 
with  two  canoes,  and  floated  down  the  Colorado  River. 
When  they  neared  the  Gulf,  the  bore  or  tide  nearly 
swamped  them,  and  as  they  were  unable  to  return 
up  the  river,  they  buried  their  traps  and  skins,  and 
then  started  on  that  frightful  journey  across  the  desert 


JAMES  O.   PATTIE  39 

to  the  nearest  of  the  Lower  California  Missions.  It 
came  near  to  finishing  them,  —  crossing  the  desert,  — 
and  they  were  ill  prepared  for  their  reception  at  the 
Spanish  settlement.  As  before  related,  they  were 
taken  to  San  Diego  and  placed  in  confinement. 

It  is  to  be  hoped  that  these  few  extracts  are  sufficient 
to  indicate  to  the  youth  of  California  that  the  whole 
story  of  this  adventurer's  experience  is  of  an  un- 
usual character  and  well  worth  careful  perusal. 


CHAPTER    VII 

THE   HERO   OF  THE   SIERRAS,   JEDEDIAH   SMITH 

IT  might  be  natural  to  infer  that  all  the  pioneers  of 
a  given  epoch  in  the  history  of  California  would 
have  somewhat  similar  experiences  in  reaching  the 
land  of  their  desire,  but  doubtless  even  the  brief  refer- 
ence to  their  personal  adventures  given  in  these  chap- 
ters will  dispel  such  an  inference.  Their  experiences 
were  as  widely  different  as  their  individual  character- 
istics and  leading  motives. 

Jedediah  Smith  was  one  of  the  band  of  trappers 
engaged  by  General  W.  H.  Ashley  at  St.  Louis,  who, 
in  1824,  or  thereabouts,  established  a  trading  and 
trapping  post  near  the  Great  Salt  Lake.  Two  years 
later  he  started  out  with  fifteen  companions  to  explore 
the  country,  more  for  the  benefit  of  future  operations 
than  to  trap,  though  he  necessarily  took  the  implements 
of  his  trade  with  him.  There  is  no  way  of  knowing 
exactly  the  route  he  took  except  that  it  was  a  general 
southwesterly  course,  for  in  due  time  he  reached  the 
Rio  Virgen  and  followed  it  down  to  the  Colorado 
River,  and  thence  down  the  Colorado  to  the  Mohave 
Indian  villages.  At  these  places  he  appears  to  have 
been  well  received,  for  he  remained  fifteen  days,  and 
when  he  left  was  furnished  with  two  Indian  guides, 
plenty  of  fresh  provisions,  and  horses  stolen  from  the 


JEDEDIAH   SMITH  41 

Spaniards.  He  struck  off  across  the  Colorado  Desert 
on  the  trail  of  Captain  de  Anza,  and  in  December 
reached  the  Mission  of  San  Gabriel. 

Here,  on  account  of  the  suspicion  with  which  all 
strangers  were  received,  the  party  was  practically  placed 
under  arrest,  and  Smith  was  sent  down  to  San  Diego, 
-  where  Governor  Echeandia  had  established  his 
headquarters,  —  to  explain  the  object  of  his  mission. 
He  appears  to  have  got  along  with  the  governor  more 
easily  than  did  Pattie  a  little  later,  as  his  passport  was 
vouched  for  as  correct  by  Dana,  Cunningham  and 
other  Americans  who  were  there  at  the  time.  He 
was,  therefore,  permitted  to  purchase  supplies,  and, 
on  explaining  that  it  was  practically  impossible  for 
him  to  return  the  way  he  came,  to  start  eastward  by  a 
new  route.  He  wished  to  go  north  by  way  of  the 
Russian  settlements  to  the  Columbia  River,  but  Ech- 
eandia would  not  permit  that.  He  started  in  good 
spirits,  and  for  a  month  or  more  nothing  was  heard  of 
him.  He  then  reappeared  at  San  Bernardino  with 
the  story  that  he  had  traveled  about  three  hundred 
miles,  keeping  at  a  distance  of  one  hundred  and  fifty 
to  two  hundred  miles  from  the  coast,  where  he  had 
found  many  naked  Indians,  a  very  fertile  region,  and 
some  beavers,  but  that  when  he  tried  to  cross  the 
mountains  —  which  he  called  Mount  Joseph  —  the 
snow  was  so  deep  that  five  of  them  died  of  hunger, 
and  he  was  compelled  to  return  to  save  the  life  of 
himself  and  his  comrades. 

All  this  had  to  be  reported  to  the  governor,  who  sent 
back  orders  to  have  the  whole  party  detained;  but 


42  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

in  the  meantime  Smith  had  departed.  This  was  late 
in  February.  Where  he  went  is  not  known,  but  in  May 
he  was  in  the  upper  part  of  the  San  Joaquin  Valley, 
friendly  with  the  Indians,  and  accused  by  Padre 
Duran,  of  Mission  San  Jose",  of  enticing  his  neophytes 
to  desert.  On  the  nineteenth  of  May,  Smith  wrote 
a  frank  and  full  statement  to  Padre  Duran,  explaining 
who  and  what  he  was,  reciting  his  failures  to  cross  the 
mountains,  and  that  he  was  compelled  to  wait  until 
the  snow  had  gone.  He  was  far  from  home,  destitute 
of  clothing  and  all  the  necessaries  of  life,  save  only 
game  for  food.  He  needed  horses,  and  concluded  his 
letter:  "  Though  a  foreigner,  unknown  to  you,  Rever- 
end Father,  your  true  friend  and  Christian  brother, 
J.  S.  Smith." 

Perhaps  becoming  suspicious  that  his  failures  to 
cross  the  mountains  might  be  construed  into  a  violation 
of  Mexican  law,  he  started  the  very  next  day,  with 
but  two  companions,  and  succeeded  in  crossing  the 
Sierras.  As  this  is  the  first  record  of  any  white  man's 
accomplishing  the  feat,  it  is  well  to  give  Smith's  own 
account,  which,  though  brief  and  meagre,  is  inter- 
esting. He  says: 

"  On  May  20,  1827,  with  two  men,  seven  horses,  and 
two  mules  laden  with  hay  and  feed,  I  started  from  the 
Valley.  In  eight  days  we  crossed  Mount  Joseph, 
losing  on  this  passage  two  horses  and  one  mule.  At  the 
summit  of  the  mountain  the  snow  was  from  four  to 
eight  feet  deep,  and  so  hard  that  the  horses  sank  only 
a  few  inches.  After  a  march  of  twenty  days  eastward 
from  Mount  Joseph,  I  reached  the  southwest  corner 


JEDEDIAH   SMITH  43 

of  the  Great  Salt  Lake.  The  country  separating  it 
from  the  mountains  is  arid  and  without  game.  Often 
we  had  no  water  for  two  days  at  a  time;  we  saw  but 
a  plain,  without  the  slightest  trace  of  vegetation. 
Farther  on  I  found  rocky  hills  with  springs,  then  hordes 
of  Indians,  who  seemed  to  us  the  most  miserable  beings 
imaginable.  When  we  reached  the  Great  Salt  Lake, 
we  had  left  only  one  horse  and  one  mule,  so  exhausted 
that  they  could  hardly  carry  our  light  luggage.  We  had 
been  forced  to  eat  the  horses  that  had  succumbed." 

What  a  journey,  and  what  a  record!  From  his 
standpoint,  what  he  had  done  was  an  ordinary,  every- 
day affair.  Hardships  were  the  regular  fare  of  trappers, 
and  nothing  was  made  of  it.  Civilization  may  do  many 
things  for  us,  but  it  has  not  yet  produced  a  set  of  men 
as  hardy,  brave,  and  defiant  of  hardship  as  Jedediah  S. 
Smith  and  others  like  him. 

To  prove  how  little  he  thought  of  the  dangers  and 
perils  he  had  escaped,  he  returned  to  California  with 
eight  men,  arriving  some  time  about  October  of  the 
same  year.  For,  it  must  be  recalled,  he  had  started 
away  with  but  two  men,  and  consequently  some  of  his 
band  were  still  in  the  territory  of  the  Mexicans,  who 
did  not  view  their  presence  with  favor.  After  gathering 
them  together,  he  had  a  band  of  seventeen  men,  and 
late  in  October  went  to  San  Jose  and  Monterey,  where 
Captain  Cooper  signed  a  bond,  pledging  his  person 
and  property  for  their  good  behavior  and  that  they 
were  not  hostile  to  the  country. 

This  bond  is  now  in  the  Bancroft  Library,  at  the  State 
University  in  Berkeley,  and  sets  forth  that  Smith  and 


44  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

his  companions  are  honorable  citizens  of  the  United 
States,  and  are  to  be  treated  as  friends,  and  furnished 
with  arms,  horses,  and  provisions  at  fair  prices,  so 
that  they  can  return  to  their  homes  by  way  of  Mission 
San  Jose,  the  Straits  of  Carquinez  and  Bodega.  They 
must  not  delay  en  route,  and  must  not  visit  the  coast 
south  of  latitude  42°,  nor  extend  their  inland  operations 
farther  than  specifically  allowed  by  the  latest  treaties. 
Smith  then  writes:  "I  acknowledge  this  bond. 
Jedediah  S.  Smith,"  after  which  Governor  Echeandia 
gives  the  party  permission  to  return,  with  one  hundred 
mules,  one  hundred  and  fifty  horses,  a  gun  for  each 
man,  and  divers  bales  of  provisions  and  other  effects. 
A  guard  of  ten  soldiers  escorted  the  trappers  to  a  point 
a  little  beyond  San  Francisco  Solano,  and  then  some- 
thing must  have  happened,  though  we  do  not  know 
what,  for  on  the  eighteenth  of  November,  Smith  and 
his  whole  company  arrived  in  San  Francisco  on  the 
vessel  Franklin,  from  Monterey.  Then  they  pro- 
ceeded leisurely  northwards,  possibly  by  way  of  the 
Russian  settlements,  but,  when  crossing  the  Umpqua 
River,  they  were  attacked  by  Indians,  and  fifteen  were 
killed  and  all  their  property  lost.  Smith  and  three 
others  barely  escaped  with  their  lives,  and  were  next 
heard  of  at  Fort  Vancouver.  Smith  eventually  re- 
turned to  Salt  Lake  in  1829,  and  was  killed  two  years 
later  by  Indians  in  New  Mexico. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE   TYPICAL   HERO   OF   EARLY  GOLD   DAYS,    JOHN 
BID  WELL 

THE  most  typical  of  all  the  pioneers  who  emigrated 
to  California  and  settled  there  prior  to  the  gold 
discovery,  and  while  the  country  was  under  Mexican 
rule,  was  John  Bidwell.  He  arrived  in  California  in 
October,  1841,  in  the  first  wagon-train  of  emigrants, 
for  several  years  was  General  Sutter's  assistant,  finally 
settled  on  the  Rancho  Chico,  some  ninety-six  miles 
north  of  Sacramento,  and  there  died,  April  3,  1900. 

There  was  nothing  dramatically  heroic  in  Bidwell's 
life  similar  to  the  chief  events  in  the  lives  of  some  of  the 
pioneer  heroes  herein  recounted,  but  the  whole  of  his 
career  was  of  the  unconsciously  heroic  type  and  is  well 
worthy  of  a  more  extended  study  than  can  here  be 
accorded  it. 

He  was  born  August  5,  1819,  at  Ripley,  Chautauqua 
County,  New  York,  and  moved  with  his  parents  first 
to  Pennsylvania  and  then  to  Ohio.  It  was  when  in  his 
twentieth  year,  living  in  the  western  part  of  Ohio,  that 
he  conceived  a  desire  to  see  the  great  prairies  of  the 
West.  He  started  on  foot  to  walk  to  Cincinnati,  ninety 
miles  distant,  and  though  conscious  that  traveling  in 
that  wild  country  was  considered  dangerous,  took  no 
weapon  along. 


46  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

Arrived  at  Cincinnati,  he  went  down  the  Ohio  River 
to  the  Mississippi,  and  thence  up  to  St.  Louis,  finally 
reaching  Burlington,  Iowa,  which  then  had  a  popula- 
tion of  about  two  hundred  inhabitants.  This  region 
not  suiting  him,  he  struck  across  country,  without 
road  or  trail,  determined  to  see  Missouri. 

It  is  well  to  note  this  spirit  of  independent  initiative 
in  a  youth  not  yet  twenty-one  years  of  age.  This  makes 
his  later  career  more  comprehensible,  and  denotes 
that  strength  of  character  which  would  have  enabled 
him  to  become  a  controlling  force  wherever  he  had 
found  himself. 

He  settled  in  the  Platte  Purchase,  a  fertile  region 
that  recently  had  been  purchased  by  the  United  States 
from  the  Indians,  and  he  extolled  its  fertility  and  beauty 
in  glowing  language,  showing  how  great  an  impression 
its  natural  advantages  made  upon  him.  Here  he  began 
to  teach  school  in  the  country,  about  five  miles  from 
Weston,  —  this  was  in  June,  1839,  —  and  in  the  fall 
of  the  year  he  located  on  a  piece  of  land,  intending 
to  send  to  Ohio  for  his  father.  When  the  settlers  first 
came  to  Platte  County  the  land  was  unsurveyed,  and 
each  family  being  entitled  to  about  half  a  square  mile 
of  land,  they  endeavored  to  locate  about  half  a  mile 
apart.  So  long  as  this  guesswrork  location  was  the  only 
method  it  was  perfectly  satisfactory  and  every  one  was 
content,  but  when  the  surveyors  came  the  exact  lines 
made  by  their  instruments  turned  everything  into  chaos. 
The  boundaries  sometimes  ran  through  a  man's  house, 
or  cut  his  barn  into  triangles,  and  there  had  to  be  much 
giving  and  taking  to  adjust  matters  without  trouble. 


JOHN    BIDWELL  47 

Here  and  there  excess  patches  would  exist,  and  on  one 
of  these  Bidwell  made  his  location. 

The  following  summer,  1840,  however,  on  a  vacation 
trip  to  St.  Louis,  a  bully  "  jumped  "  his  claim,  and 
refused  to  either  vacate  or  divide.  As  Bidwell  was  not 
yet  quite  of  age,  and  the  law  required  this,  and  also 
that  he  reside  upon  the  land,  which,  strictly,  he  had 
not  done,  he  decided  not  to  contest  the  claim  but  to 
go  elsewhere  when  spring  came. 

This  was  the  turning  point  in  his  life.  That  winter 
he  came  in  contact  with  Robidoux,  a  French  trapper 
and  trader  (brother  to  the  man  who  afterwards  gave 
his  name  to  Rubidoux  Mountain  at  Riverside,  Cali- 
fornia), who  had  visited  California  on  a  trapping  expe- 
dition from  Santa  Fe.  He  gave  enthusiastic  descripti6ns 
of  the  country  until  he  had  turned  the  heads  of  all  the 
people  for  miles  around.  As  a  result  a  company  was 
organized  the  members  of  which  pledged  themselves  to 
properly  outfit  and  meet  the  following  May  at  Sapling 
Grove,  Kansas,  ready  to  cross  the  plains  and  the  Rocky 
Mountains  to  the  new  El  Dorado.  In  a  month,  five 
hundred  people  were  pledged;  but  when  May  came, 
owing  to  the  opposition  of  the  merchants  (who  did  not 
wish  to  see  their  customers  emigrate  in  a  body),  and 
the  newspapers,  only  sixty-nine  men,  women,  and 
children  met  at  the  rendezvous.  In  Weston  Bidwell 
was  the  only  man  who  carried  out  his  pledge.  He  saved 
up  money  enough  and  bought  a  wagon,  a  gun,  and 
provisions,  but  the  man  who  had  agreed  to  go  along 
with  him  and  provide  the  horses  backed  out,  and  for  a 
time  left  him  in  despair.  Just  at  the  last  moment  an 


48  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

invalid,  George  Henshaw,  rode  into  town  on  a  fine 
black  horse,  and  with  fifteen  dollars  in  his  pocket, 
ready  to  risk  the  trip  in  a  hope  that  he  might  thereby 
regain  his  health.  Bidwell  persuaded  him  to  become 
his  partner,  but  to  do  this  he  had  to  trade  his  horse 
for  a  yoke  of  steers  for  the  wagon,  and  a  sorry-looking, 
one-eyed  mule  which  he  could  ride. 

The  party  was  ready  to  start,  ignorant  of  the  road, 
without  a  guide,  with  less,  possibly,  than  one  hundred 
dollars  in  the  pockets  of  the  entire  crowd,  and  having 
elected  as  captain  a  man  who  vowed  if  he  were  not  so 
elected,  he  wouldn't  go.  Just  before  they  started, 
however,  they  were  joined  by  the  distinguished  Jesuit 
priest,  Father  De  Smet,  two  other  priests,  a  guide  named 
Captain  Fitzpatrick,  and  three  men,  who  were  going 
out  to  the  Flathead  Indians  hi  what  is  now  Idaho. 
The  emigrants  were  thus  guided  over  half  their  journey. 
It  is  not  necessary  to  recount  their  many  and  varied 
experiences  on  the  long  and  wearisome  march.  Bid- 
well  kept  a  journal,  and  later  wrote  in  the  Century 
Magazine  a  graphic  description,  which  every  Cali- 
fornia resident,  young  or  old,  should  read.  For  it  is 
the  true  narrative  of  the  first  emigrant  train  which 
crossed  the  plains,  the  deserts,  and  the  mountains  from 
the  middle  west  to  California. 

The  emigrants,  many  of  them,  were  insanely  afraid 
of  the  Indians.  On  one  occasion  a  man  came  into 
camp  from  a  hunt,  without  gun,  pistol,  or  mule,  and 
lacking  most  of  his  clothes,  declaring,  with  great  ex- 
citement, that  he  had  been  surrounded  by  Indians  and 
robbed.  Bidwell  says: 


JOHN    BIDWELL  49 

"  The  company,  too,  became  excited,  and  Captain 
Fitzpatrick  tried,  but  with  little  effect,  to  control  and 
pacify  them.  Every  man  started  his  team  into  a  run, 
till  the  oxen,  like  the  mules  and  horses,  were  in  a  full 
gallop.  Captain  Fitzpatrick  went  ahead  and  directed 
them  to  follow,  and  as  fast  as  they  came  to  a  bank  of 
the  river  he  put  the  wagons  in  the  form  of  a  hollow 
square,  and  had  all  the  animals  securely  picketed 
within.  After  a  while  the  Indians  came  hi  sight.  There 
were  only  forty  of  them,  but  they  were  well  mounted 
on  horses,  and  were  evidently  a  war  party,  for  they  had 
no  women  except  one,  a  medicine  woman.  They  came 
up  and  camped  within  a  hundred  yards  of  us  on  the 
river  below.  Fitzpatrick  told  us  that  they  would  not 
have  come  in  that  way  if  they  were  hostile.  Our  hunter 
in  his  excitement  said  there  were  hundreds  of  them, 
and  that  they  had  robbed  him  of  his  gun,  mule,  and 
pistol.  When  the  Indians  had  put  up  their  lodges, 
Fitzpatrick  and  John  Gray,  an  old  hunter,  went  out  to 
them  and  by  signs  were  made  to  understand  that  the 
Indians  did  not  intend  to  hurt  the  man  or  take  his 
mule  or  gun,  but  that  he  was  so  excited  when  he  saw 
them  that  they  had  to  disarm  him  to  keep  him  from 
shooting  them;  they  did  not  know  what  had  become 
of  his  pistol  or  of  his  clothes,  which  he  said  they  had 
torn  off.  They  surrendered  the  mule  and  the  gun, 
thus  showing  that  they  were  friendly." 

At  Soda  Springs,  where  Father  De  Smet  left  them, 
thirty-two  of  the  party,  becoming  discouraged,  decided 
not  to  venture  without  path  or  guide  into  the  trackless 
region  toward  California,  but  concluded  to  go  with  the 


50  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

missionary  party  to  Fort  Hall  and  thence  find  their 
way  down  Snake  and  Columbia  Rivers  into  Oregon. 

The  other  thirty-two  decided  to  remain  firm  to  their 
original  purpose  and  proceed  to  California.  Says  Bid- 
well:  "We  were  now  thrown  entirely  upon  our  own 
resources.  All  the  country  beyond  was  to  us  a  veritable 
terra  incognita,  and  we  only  knew  that  California  lay 
to  the  west."  But  they  pushed  on.  "  Unavoidable 
delays  were  frequent ;  daily,  often  hourly,  the  road  had 
to  be  made  passable  for  our  wagons  by  digging  down 
steep  banks,  filling  gulches,  etc.  Indian  fires  obscured 
mountains  and  valleys  in  a  dense,  smoky  atmosphere, 
so  that  we  could  not  see  any  considerable  distance  in 
order  to  avoid  obstacles.  The  principal  growth,  on 
plain  and  hill  alike,  was  the  interminable  sage-brush 
(artemisia) ,  and  often  it  was  difficult,  for  miles  at  a 
time,  to  break  a  road  through  it,  and  sometimes  a 
lightly  laden  wagon  would  be  overturned.  Its  monoto- 
nous dull  color  and  scraggy  appearance  gave  a  most 
dreary  aspect  to  the  landscape.  But  it  was  not  wholly 
useless:  where  large  enough  it  made  excellent  fuel, 
and  it  was  the  home  and  shelter  of  the  hare  —  generally 
known  as  the  jack-rabbit  —  and  of  the  sage-hen." 

After  reaching  the  western  side  of  Salt  Lake,  travel 
with  wagons  became  so  arduous  that  they  decided  to 
abandon  them:  "  On  Green  River  we  had  seen  the 
style  of  pack-saddles  used  by  the  trapping  party,  and 
had  learned  a  little  about  how  to  make  them.  Packing 
is  an  art,  and  something  that  only  an  experienced  moun- 
taineer can  do  well  so  as  to  save  his  animal  and  keep 
his  pack  from  falling  off.  We  were  unaccustomed  to 


George   Wharton  James,  Photo. 

ON   THE    ROAD   THAT   SERRA   TRAVELED   COMING    UP   TO    SAN 
DIEGO    FROM    LA    PAZ. 


Page 


George  II' barton  James,  Photo. 
THE   FORT   AT   TUBAC,    ARIZONA,    FROM    WHICH    DE   ANZA    BROUGHT 


SOME    OF    HIS    SOLDIERS. 


Page  17 


JOHN    BIDWELL  51 

it,  and  the  difficulties  we  had  at  first  were  simply  in- 
describable. It  is  much  more  difficult  to  fasten  a 
pack  on  an  ox  than  on  a  mule  or  a  horse.  The  trouble 
began  the  very  first  day.  But  we  started  —  most  of 
us  on  foot,  for  nearly  all  the  animals,  including  several 
of  the  oxen,  had  to  carry  packs.  It  was  but  a  few 
minutes  before  the  packs  began  to  turn ;  horses  became 
scared,  mules  kicked,  oxen  jumped  and  bellowed,  and 
articles  were  scattered  in  all  directions.  We  took 
more  pains,  fixed  things,  made  a  new  start,  and  did 
better,  though  packs  continued  occasionally  to  fall  off 
and  delay  us." 

Their  captain  proved  a  poor  leader,  and  twice  or 
thrice  abandoned  them,  but  he  either  got  lost  or  scared 
and  each  time  before  long  returned  to  the  party. 

The  straits  to  which  they  were  reduced  as  they  de- 
scended into  California  can  better  be  imagined  than 
described  from  the  following  quotation:  "  We  went  on, 
traveling  west  as  near  as  we  could.  When  we  killed 
our  last  ox  we  shot  and  ate  crows  or  anything  we  could 
kill,  and  one  man  shot  a  wild-cat.  We  could  eat  any- 
thing." The  ascent  and  descent  of  the  range  was 
equally  difficult,  and  every  day  and  night  saw  new  and 
fresh  hardships. 

The  party  finally  reached  the  edge  of  the  San  Joaquin 
Valley  but  did  not  know  they  were  yet  in  California. 
They  saw  the  Coast  Range  beyond  and  deemed  that  it 
had  to  be  climbed  before  the  promised  land  was  reached. 
'  The  evening  of  the  day  we  started  down  into  the 
valley  we  were  very  tired,  and  when  night  came  our 
party  was  strung  along  for  three  or  four  miles,  and 


52  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

every  man  slept  right  where  darkness  overtook  him. 
He  would  take  off  his  saddle  for  a  pillow  and  turn  his 
horse  or  mule  loose,  if  he  had  one.  His  animal  would 
be  too  poor  to  walk  away,  and  in  the  morning  he  would 
find  him,  usually  within  fifty  feet.  The  jaded  horses 
nearly  perished  with  hunger  and  fatigue." 

A  few  days  later,  however,  they  met  an  Indian  who 
guided  them  to  the  home  of  Dr.  Marsh,  located  about 
four  miles  from  San  Jose,  and  thus  their  weary  pil- 
grimage as  emigrants  came  to  an  end. 

Bidwell  wrote  two  other  articles  in  the  Century 
Magazine  of  great  personal  and  historic  interest,  viz., 
"  Life  in  California  before  the  Gold  Discovery,"  and 
"  Fremont  in  the  Conquest  of  California,"  but  of 
greater  interest  to  us  now  is  his  Diary,  written  and  sent 
back  to  Missouri.  It  is  dated  "  Bodega,  Port  of  the 
Russians,  Upper  California,  March  30,  1842,"  and 
gives  the  detailed  account  of  his  journey  to  California, 
at  the  close  of  which  he  gives  some  "  Observations 
about  the  Country."  These  show  the  clearness  of  his 
mind  and  the  keenness  of  his  judgment,  and  also  in- 
clude shrewd  observations  on  Captain  Sutter,  and 
some  strong  words  of  censure  about  Dr.  Marsh,  whom 
he  denounces  as  "  perhaps  the  meanest  man  in  Cali- 
fornia," recounting  incidents  that  confirm  this  censure. 

His  earliest  occupation  was  to  assist  Captain  Sutter, 
who  sent  him  to  dismantle  Fort  Ross,  which  he,  Sutter, 
had  just  purchased  from  the  Russians.  When  returning 
from  the  accomplishment  of  this  work  Bidwell  had 
his  horses  stolen  from  him,  and  in  their  recovery,  made 
"  his  first  exploration  of  the  Sacramento  Valley,  during 


JOHN    BIDWELL  53 

which  he  named  all  the  streams  coming  into  the  Sacra- 
mento from  the  east  between  Butte  Creek  and  Red 
Bluff.  He  also  made  a  map  of  the  valley  from  his  ob- 
servations on  horseback,  which  served  as  the  standard 
map  of  that  country  until  the  actual  surveys  were  made 
in  later  years.  Thus,  two  years  before  Fremont's  first 
explorations,  did  Bidwell  traverse  and  explore  the 
primeval  wilderness  of  Northern  California  at  a  time 
when  there  was  not  a  white  settler  north  of  Sacra- 
mento." 

In  October,  1844,  Bidwell  was  accepted  to  Mexican 
citizenship  and  was  granted  a  ranch  known  as  Ulpinos, 
on  the  Lower  Sacramento,  in  what  is  now  Solano 
County,  but  when  the  settlers  raised  the  Bear  Flag, 
in  1846,  he  was  one  of  the  committee  which  drafted 
the  plan  of  organization,  and  himself  wrote  the  agree- 
ment, which  all  signed,  to  the  effect  that:  The  under- 
signed hereby  agree  to  organize  and  remain  in  service 
as  long  as  necessary  for  gaining  and  maintaining  the  In- 
dependence of  California.  "  From  this  time  until  the 
close  of  the  struggle  with  Mexico,"  writes  Mr.  C.  C. 
Royce,  "  Bidwell  was  in  active  service  hi  various  ca- 
pacities, holding  successively  the  rank  of  lieutenant 
captain  and  quartermaster,  with  the  rank  of  major. 
He  was  also  appointed  by  Fremont  alcalde  at  the 
Mission  of  San  Luis  Rey,  and  commanded  that  post  at 
the  time  of  the  Flores  revolt  in  the  fall  of  1846,  during 
which  he  had  some  thrilling  and  hazardous  experiences." 

He  was  the  first  man  to  carry  the  news  of  the  dis- 
covery of  gold  to  San  Francisco;  was  a  member  of 
the  first  State  Senate;  the  committee  man  who  named 


54  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

most  of  those  counties  whose  names  are  not  of  Spanish 
origin;  and  was  sent  to  Washington  with  the  block 
of  gold-bearing  quartz  which  was  used  as  California's 
contribution  to  the  George  Washington  monument. 
While  there  he  heard  the  discussions  against  the  ad- 
mittance of  California  into  the  Union,  and  voiced  the 
discouragements  of  the  Calif ornians  to  a  lady  whom  he 
was  commissioned  to  bring  back  to  her  husband  in 
San  Francisco.  She  had  been  a  schoolmate  of  Senator 
Seward,  and  invited  him  to  a  farewell  dinner  before 
she  left  for  California.  This  afforded  Bidwell  the  op- 
portunity to  present  to  Seward  the  cogent  reasons  for 
the  immediate  admission  of  California.  This  won 
not  only  a  new  vote  for  California,  but  an  earnest  and 
eloquent  advocate  of  her  claims,  with  the  result  that 
on  August  13,  1850,  the  bill  passed  in  the  Senate,  on 
September  yth,  in  the  House,  and  two  days  later  was 
signed  by  President  Fillmore.  Bidwell  immediately 
sailed,  bearing  the  glad  tidings,  arrived  in  San  Fran- 
cisco from  Panama,  on  the  steamer  Oregon,  on  Octo- 
ber 18,  being  the  first  to  bring  the  full  news  of  Cali- 
fornia's completed  statehood. 

A  Democrat  in  politics  until  the  Civil  War,  he  spoke 
in  no  uncertain  voice  at  the  time  of  the  nation's  peril, 
and  was  appointed  brigadier  general  of  the  California 
militia.  Mr.  Royce  claims  that  "  to  his  intense  loyalty, 
military  alertness  and  efficiency  on  the  one  hand, 
coupled  with  the  unrivaled  and  convincing  eloquence 
of  Rev.  Thomas  Starr  King,  is  due,  more  than  to  any 
other  individual  influences,  the  decision  of  California  to 
remain  loyal  to  the  Union,  despite  the  desperate  efforts 


JOHN    BIDWELL  55 

of  the  powerful  Southern  element  led  by  Gwin,  Terry 
and  others." 

In  1892  he  was  made  the  candidate  of  the  Prohibition 
party  for  president,  and  in  no  measured  terms  declared 
his  opinion  of  the  liquor  traffic. 

He  gained  more  votes  for  his  party  than  has  ever 
been  known  before  or  since,  and  even  his  political 
enemies  had  nothing  but  kind  words  to  speak  for  him, 
so  open,  honorable,  and  fair  was  his  course  against 
them. 

His  treatment  of  the  Indians  found  on  his  ranch 
has  been  at  wide  variance  with  that  of  most  landed 
proprietors.  Not  one  has  ever  been  ejected,  all  who 
wished  to  work  wrere  given  work  and  paid  in  food, 
clothes  and  wages.  He  set  apart  for  them  a  tract 
about  half  a  mile  northwest  of  his  own  house,  aided 
them  in  substituting  permanent  frame  houses  for  their 
own  rude  and  temporary  structures,  afforded  them 
constant  and  efficient  protection  from  the  intrusion, 
insolence  and  outrage  of  lawless  whites,  and  in  every 
way  became  a  father  and  friend  to  them.  Their  love 
and  devotion  to  him  and  Mrs.  Bidwell  demonstrate 
their  appreciation.  No  other  person  has  ever  been 
necessary  to  settle  their  little  or  big  disputes,  and  now 
that  he  has  "  gone  "  Mrs.  Bidwell  takes  her  husband's 
full  place  hi  their  regard  and  confidences. 

At  the  age  of  eighty  years,  after  a  brave  and  heroic 
life,  filled  with  useful  and  beneficial  labors,  General 
Bidwell  laid  down  his  earthly  task,  April  3,  1900,  and 
passed  on  to  his  reward. 


CHAPTER    IX 

THE   GREAT  -  HEARTED   HERO   OF  THE   SNOWS, 
CHARLES   T.    STANTON 

THE  stories  of  pioneer  days  are  full  of  acts  of  in- 
dividual heroism,  each  one  of  which  should  be 
preserved.  Some  of  these  undoubtedly  have  been 
forgotten  and  never  will  be  recorded  on  earth.  Others 
have  been  buried  in  volumes,  the  existence  of  which 
is  forgotten.  This  volume  is  written  hi  the  hope  that 
for  generations  to  come,  it,  or  a  better  book  of  like 
character,  will  keep  alive  the  memory  of  some  of  these 
heroes,  until  an  awakened  people  erect  to  them  more 
substantial  and  enduring  monuments. 

Elsewhere  is  given  a  brief  outline  of  the  history  of 
the  Dormer  Lake  party.  When  that  party  met  with  its 
second  great  disaster  in  the  loss  of  Mr.  Reed's  oxen  on 
the  Great  Salt  Lake  Desert,  it  was  then  discovered  that 
their  provisions  were  so  low  as  almost  to  shut  out  the 
hope  that  they  could  reach  California  without  an  addi- 
tional supply.  To  go  back  was  impracticable,  as  the 
advancing  column  would  be  marching  further  and 
further  away  each  day  from  any  aid  thus  gained.  The 
road  ahead  was  untraveled  and  unknown.  The  dis- 
tance was  largely  conjectural,  as  far  as  actual  travel 
was  concerned.  The  hardships  were  certain,  the 
dangers  unescapable,  the  risks  many.  Hostile  Indians, 


CHARLES    T.    STANTON  57 

wild  animals,  perils  from  storms,  quicksands,  sun- 
stroke, scarcity  of  water,  cold,  heat,  loss  of  way,  and 
a  thousand  and  one  known  and  imaginable  trials  all 
upreared  their  unpleasant  forms  to  prevent  any  thought- 
ful man  from  undertaking  the  mission. 

Yet  in  spite  of  all  the  obstacles,  known  and  unknown, 
two  men  volunteered  to  go  on  ahead  to  California, 
without  money  to  purchase  aid,  and  by  the  simple 
statement  of  the  needs  of  the  party  attempt  to  secure 
from  strangers  the  required  help.  One  of  these  vol- 
unteers, William  McCutcheon,  had  a  wife  and  daughter 
in  the  party;  the  other,  Charles  T.  Stanton,  was  alone, 
and  could  have  had  no  other  motive  in  seeking  relief 
for  the  party  than  a  disinterested  one. 

It  was  a  solemn  occasion  when  these  two  men, 
each  on  horseback,  with  a  small  quantity  of  provi- 
sions, carrying  a  letter  to  Captain  Sutter,  of  Sutter's 
Fort,  in  which  the  sad  plight  of  the  party  was  set 
forth,  said  their  farewells  and  left  their  companions. 
As  they  were  watched  until  they  disappeared  from  sight, 
what  emotions  stirred  in  the  souls  of  those  left  behind. 
Naturally  every  one  felt  that  McCutcheon  would  re- 
turn, —  his  wife  and  daughter  were  a  sufficient  magnet, 
—  but  how  about  Stanton  ?  He  had  no  family  ties,  no 
social  obligations;  nothing  but  his  plighted  word,  his 
honor  and  his  humanity. 

Of  their  trip  over  the  deserts  of  Utah  and  Nevada, 
and  the  climb  of  the  Sierras  we  know  practically  noth- 
ing. But  we  do  know  that  they  safely  passed  through 
all  dangers,  and  reached  Sutter's  Fort.  Here  Mc- 
Cutcheon was  taken  sick,  but  not  before  he  and  Stanton 


58  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

had  laid  the  case  of  the  party  before  the  generous- 
hearted  Sutter  and  had  received  his  promise  of  help. 
Consequently  Stanton  was  compelled  to  return  alone. 
Sutter  gave  him  five  mules,  laden  with  flour  and  dried 
beef,  and  the  aid  and  assistance  of  two  Indians,  Lewis 
and  Salvador,  who  were  to  accompany  him  and  return 
with  the  party. 

We  can  imagine  the  brave  man  starting  joyously 
on  the  return  journey.  He  knew  the  dangers  now, 
as  he  did  not  before,  for  he  had  seen  the  stern  barrier  of 
the  Sierras,  had  camped  on  its  dangerous  slopes,  and 
had  seen  how  its  trails  and  poor  roads  would  be  oblit- 
erated with  one  fall  of  a  heavy  snow.  Yet  joy  filled  his 
manly  heart,  for  he  was  returning  to  give  help,  com- 
fort and  succor  to  the  needy. 

And  how  they  welcomed  him  on  his  arrival!  They 
were  reduced  already  to  sad  straits.  Many  were  walk- 
ing, and  they  were  almost  out  of  food.  None  of  them 
would  ever  have  survived  had  he  not  come  so  oppor- 
tunely. The  party  had  reached  the  Truckee  River, 
beyond  where  Reno  now  stands.  Snow  had  already 
fallen  on  the  high  summits  of  the  Sierras,  and  every- 
thing foreshadowed  a  severe  storm.  Stanton  urged 
the  wearied  people  on.  He  pointed  out  their  dire 
danger,  and  he  made  clear  to  them  that  if  the  snow 
trapped  them  on  this  side  of  the  summit  there  would 
be  little  or  no  hope  of  their  escape.  But,  if  they  would 
push  on  and  reach  the  summit  at  once,  the  descent 
into  the  valleys  of  California  would  be  comparatively 
easy.  He  knew  pretty  well  that  their  lives  depended 
upon  following  this  course. 


CHARLES    T.    STANTON  59 

Frantic  at  the  thought  of  the  danger  thus  made 
clear  to  them,  each  selfishly  strove  to  do  the  best  he 
could  for  himself,  and  considerable  energy  was  wasted 
in  these  endeavors.  "At  last,  one  day,  a  determined 
and  systematic  attempt  was  made  to  cross  the  summit. 
Nearly  the  entire  train  was  engaged  in  the  work.  The 
road,  of  course,  was  entirely  obliterated  by  the  snow. 
Guided  only  by  the  general  contour  of  the  country, 
all  hands  pressed  resolutely  forward.  Here,  large 
boulders  and  irregular,  jutting  cliffs  would  intercept 
the  way;  there,  dizzy  precipices,  yawning  chasms, 
and  deep  canyons  would  interpose;  and  anon,  a  bold, 
impassable  mountain  of  rock  would  rear  its  menacing 
front  directly  across  their  path.  All  day  long  the  men 
and  animals  floundered  through  the  snow,  and  at- 
tempted to  break  and  trample  a  road.  Just  before 
nightfall  they  reached  the  abrupt  precipice  where  the 
present  wagon-road  intercepts  the  snow-sheds  of  the 
Central  Pacific." ' 

There,  wearied  and  tired,  they  stopped  for  a  confer- 
ence. They  were  thoroughly  frightened  now.  Some 
of  the  party  wished  to  bribe  the  Indians  to  go  ahead 
with  them,  but  Stanton  kept  them  with  him.  He 
wanted  them  all  to  make  one  more  desperate  at- 
tempt. 

Yet  when  some  of  the  tired  ones  declared  they  could 
not  take  another  step  (and  they  doubtless  believed  it  was 
true,  though  some  of  them  afterwards  showed  that  they 
could  have  traveled  twice  as  far  as  they  had  come  that 
day)  and  insisted  upon  resting  all  night,  he  and  the 

1 "  History  of  the  Donner  Party,"  C.  F.  McGlashan,  p.  57. 


60  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

Indians  did  not  leave  them  to  their  fate,  but  remained 
behind  to  share  whatever  Fortune  had  in  store  for 
them. 

"  That  night  came  the  dreaded  snow.  Around  the 
camp-fires  under  the  trees  great  feathery  flakes  came 
whirling  down.  The  air  was  so  full  of  them  that  one 
could  see  objects  only  a  few  feet  away.  The  Indians 
knew  we  were  doomed,  and  one  of  them  wrapped  his 
blanket  around  him  and  stood  all  night  under  a  tree." " 

Even  then,  had  Stanton  and  the  Indians  chosen, 
they  could  have  gone  on  ahead  and  escaped.  He  could 
have  made  a  good  excuse  (as  many  a  man's  conscience 
has  allowed  him  to  do  for  worse  things),  by  pleading 
that,  as  the  party  would  not  press  forward  when  he 
assured  them  their  lives  were  in  danger,  he  could  not 
jeopardize  his  own  life  by  remaining.  But  no!  he 
had  come  to  their  relief,  and  even  in  their  folly  he 
would  stick  by  them  and  do  the  best  he  could  to  aid 
them. 

The  party  now  returned  to  the  lake  which  afterwards 
bore  the  name  of  "  Dormer,"  built  cabins,  and  settled 
down  to  make  the  best  of  it  until  the  snow  ceased. 

"  Many  attempts  were  made  to  cross  the  mountains, 
but  all  who  tried  were  driven  back  by  the  pitiless 
storms.  Finally  a  party  was  organized,  since  known 
as  the  '  Forlorn  Hope.'  They  made  snow-shoes, 
and  fifteen  started,  —  ten  men  and  five  women." 

Stanton,  dauntless  and  hopeful,  declared:  "I  will 
bring  help  to  these  famishing  people  or  lay  down  my 

1  Mrs.  Virginia  Reed  Murphy  in  The  Century  Magazine.  July, 
1891,  p.  421. 


CHARLES    T.    STANTON  61 

life."  The  two  Indians  were  of  the  party,  and  a 
brave-hearted,  jovial  Irishman,  named  Patrick  Dolan. 

Imagine  them  as  they  started  from  that  place  of 
suffering  and  woe.  Snow!  snow!  snow!  everywhere! 
They  took  a  supply  of  provisions  that,  with  the  utmost 
care,  would  last  them  only  six  days.  They  had  also 
matches,  a  gun,  a  hatchet  and  a  thin  blanket  apiece. 
They  wore  snow-shoes  which  they  had  made  from  the 
packs  brought  over  by  Stanton.  That  night  they 
camped  within  sight  of  the  lake  and  the  cabins  they  were 
leaving.  They  had  traveled  only  four  miles. 

"  The  next  day  they  traveled  six  miles.  They  crossed 
the  summit,  and  the  camp  was  no  longer  visible.  They 
were  in  the  solemn  fastnesses  of  the  snow-mantled 
Sierras.  Lonely,  desolate,  forsaken  apparently  by 
God  and  man,  their  situation  was  painfully,  distressingly 
terrible.  The  snow  was  wrapped  about  cliff  and  forest 
and  gorge.  It  varied  in  depth  from  twelve  to  sixty 
feet." 

The  third  day  they  walked  five  miles.  It  had  snowed 
during  the  night. 

"  Starting  almost  at  dawn,  they  struggled  wearily 
through  the  deep  drifts,  and  when  the  night  shadows 
crept  over  crag  and  pine  and  mountain  vale,  they  were 
but  five  miles  on  their  journey.  They  did  not  speak 
during  the  day,  except  when  speech  was  absolutely 
necessary.  All  traveled  silently,  and  with  downcast 
eyes.  The  task  was  beginning  to  tell  upon  the  frames 
of  even  the  strongest  and  most  resolute.  The  hunger 
that  continually  gnawed  at  their  vitals,  the  excessive 
labor  of  moving  the  heavy,  clumsy  snow-shoes  through 


62  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

the  soft,  yielding  snow,  was  too  much  for  human  en- 
durance. They  could  no  longer  keep  together  and 
aid  each  other  with  words  of  hope.  They  struggled 
along,  sometimes  at  great  distances  apart.  The  fatigue 
and  dazzling  sunlight  rendered  some  of  them  snow- 
blind.  One  of  these  was  the  noble- hearted  Stanton. 
On  this  third  day  he  was  too  blind  and  weak  to  keep 
up  with  the  rest,  and  Staggered  into  the  camp  long 
after  the  others  had  finished  their  pitiful  supper. 
Poor,  brave,  generous  Stanton!  He  said  little,  but  in 
his  inner  heart  he  knew  that  the  end  of  his  journey 
was  close  at  hand. 

"  Who  was  this  heroic  being  who  left  the  beautiful 
Valley  of  the  Sacramento  to  die  for  strangers?  See 
him  wearily  toiling  onward  during  the  long  hours  of 
the  fourth  day.  The  agony  and  blindness  of  his  eyes 
wring  no  cry  from  his  lips,  no  murmur,  no  word  of 
complaint.  With  patient  courage  and  heroic  fortitude 
he  strives  to  keep  pace  with  his  companions,  but  finds 
it  impossible.  Early  in  the  morning  he  drops  to  the 
rear,  and  is  soon  lost  to  sight.  At  night  he  drags  his 
weary  limbs  into  camp  long  after  his  comrades  are 
sleeping  'neath  the  silent  stars.  It  must  be  remembered 
that  they  had  been  accustomed  to  short  allowance  of 
food  for  months,  while  he  had  been  used  to  having 
an  abundance.  Their  bodies  had  been  schooled  to 
endure  famine,  privations  and  long,  weary  walks.  For 
many  days  before  reaching  the  mountains,  they  had 
been  used  to  walking  every  day,  in  order  to  lighten 
the  burdens  of  the  perishing  oxen.  Fatigues  which 
exhausted  them  crushed  Stanton.  The  weather  was 


CHARLES    T.    STANTON  63 

clear  and  pleasant,  but  the  glare  of  the  sun  during  the 
day  had  been  like  molten  fire  to  their  aching  eyes. 

"  On  the  morning  of  the  fifth  day,  Stanton  was  sitting 
smoking  by  the  smouldering  fire  when  the  company 
resumed  its  journey.  Mary  Graves,  who  had  a  tender 
heart  for  the  suffering  of  others,  went  kindly  up  to 
him,  and  asked  him  if  he  were  coming.  '  Yes,'  he  re- 
plied, '  I'm  coming  soon.'  Was  he  answering  her,  or 
the  unseen  spirits  that  even  then  were  beckoning  him 
to  the  unknown  world?  'Yes,  I'm  coming  soon!' 
Those  were  his  last  known  words.  His  companions 
were  too  near  death's  door  to  return  when  they  found 
he  came  not,  and  so  he  perished. 

"  He  was  a  hero  of  the  highest,  noblest,  grandest 
stamp.  No  words  can  ever  express  a  fitting  tribute 
to  his  memory.  He  gave  his  life  for  strangers  who  had 
not  the  slightest  claim  to  the  sacrifice.  He  left  the 
valleys  where  friends,  happiness  and  abundance  pre- 
vailed, to  perish  amid  chilling  snow  drifts  —  famished 
and  abandoned.  The  act  of  returning  to  save  the 
starving  emigrants  is  as  full  of  heroic  grandeur  as  his 
death  is  replete  with  mournful  desolation. 

"  In  May,  1847,  W.  C.  Graves,  in  company  with  a 
relief  party,  found  his  remains  near  the  spot  where  he 
had  been  left  by  his  companions.  Wild  animals  had 
partially  devoured  his  body,  but  the  remains  were  easily 
identified  by  means  of  his  clothing  and  pistols."  * 

1  McGlashan  in  his  "History  of  the  Donner  Party." 


CHAPTER   X 

THE     MIDNIGHT     HEROINE     OF    THE    PLAINS,    VIRGINIA 
REED 

THE  story  of  the  Dormer  Lake  party  is  well  known. 
The  chief  facts  are  that  in  1846,  while  California 
was  still  a  foreign  country  —  being  then  a  province 
of  Mexico  —  a  party  of  home-seekers  left  Springfield, 
Illinois.  The  chief  organizer  of  the  expedition  was 
James  T.  Reed,  and  two  families  of  the  name  of  Donner 
were  among  the  first  to  join  him.  Owing  to  circum- 
stances that  afterwards  occurred,  the  party  became 
known  by  their  name  instead  of  by  Reed's.  When  they 
reached  Independence,  Missouri,  many  others  joined 
them,  and  a  large  band  of  men,  women  and  children 
finally  left  that  then  frontier  town  with  their  faces  ear- 
nestly set  towards  the  Sea  of  the  Setting  Sun.  When  they 
reached  Fort  Bridger  they  were  urged  to  take  a  cut-off, 
which,  it  was  said,  would  save  them  three  hundred 
miles.  A  large  majority  decided  to  go  by  the  old  road, 
which  they  did,  and  ultimately  reached  California  with 
comparative  ease  and  safety.  Eighty-four  persons,  led 
by  the  Reed  and  Donner  families,  took  the  cut-off  and 
thereby  entangled  themselves  in  great  difficulties,  and 
occupied  so  much  of  their  time  that  they  were  eventually 
caught  in  the  snow  on  the  eastern  slope  of  the  Sierras. 
But  before  they  reached  this  point,  several  disasters  of 


Copyright,  190$,  by  George   Wharton  James. 

A    YUMA    INDIAN.     DESCENDANT   OF   ONE    OF   THOSE    WHO    GUIDED 

JUAN    BAUTISTA    DE    ANZA. 

Page 


VIRGINIA   REED  65 

great  moment  occurred.  Mr.  Reed  suffered  a  great 
loss  in  that,  when  crazed  for  want  of  water  in  crossing 
the  Salt  Lake  Desert,  his  oxen  rushed  off  beyond  con- 
trol, and  were  never  seen  again;  and,  a  couple  of  weeks 
later,  while  at  the  sink  of  the  Humbolt,  more  head  of 
oxen  were  stolen  from  the  party  by  the  Indians. 

When  finally  caught  in  the  snow,  over  forty  of  the 
party  perished,  and  such  were  the  dire  straits  to  which 
the  survivors  were  reduced  for  food,  that  they  were 
compelled  (all  save  the  Reed  family)  to  partake  of  the 
flesh  of  their  companions  who  had  died.  Ultimately 
succor  came  to  them,  and  they  were  conveyed  by 
different  relief  parties  to  safety  and  California. 

Shortly  after  crossing  the  Humbolt  River  in  Nevada, 
however,  a  tragic  incident  occurred  which  led  to  the 
act  of  heroism  here  related. 

The  party  arrived  at  a  short  but  sandy  hill,  and  as 
the  oxen  were  all  wearied  it  had  been  the  custom  at 
such  places  to  "  double  up  "  teams  and  one  driver 
with  his  oxen  help  another  up  the  hill,  when  both  teams 
would  return  for  the  second  wagon.  A  driver  named 
Snyder,  for  some  unaccountable  reason,  decided  to 
go  up  alone.  His  oxen  could  not  accomplish  it,  and 
the  driver  became  angry  and  began  to  abuse  his  ani- 
mals. Mr.  Reed,  who  had  been  on  ahead,  seeking  out 
the  best  road,  happened  to  return  at  this  juncture, 
and  in  trying  to  calm  the  excited  man  aroused  his  ire 
to  a  point  of  frenzy.  He  jumped  upon  his  wagon  tongue 
and  struck  Mr.  Reed  with  the  butt  end  of  his  whip,  ma- 
king three  ugly  gashes  in  his  scalp,  from  which  the 
blood  streamed.  Mrs.  Reed,  with  a  good  woman's 


66  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

impulse,  rushed  in  between  the  two  men,  and  the  blow 
descended  again,  but  this  time  upon  her  devoted  head, 
cutting  it  as  it  had  done  her  husband's.  As  the  crazy 
man  raised  his  whip  to  strike  again,  Mr.  Reed  drew 
his  hunting  knife  and  thrust  it  into  Snyder's  side,  killing 
him  almost  instantly. 

That  afternoon  the  party  sentenced  Reed  to  banish- 
ment, under  conditions  which  can  only  be  deemed 
cruel  and  wicked.  He  was  to  go  forth  into  the  trackless 
desert  without  food,  water,  bedding,  guns  or  ammuni- 
tion, and  even  without  one  of  his  own  horses  to  ride. 
At  first  he  refused  to  obey  the  sentence,  but  finally  the 
pleadings  of  his  wife  prevailed,  and  at  her  urgent 
request  a  horse  was  allowed  him. 

What  now  follows  is  a  chapter  from  the  story  of 
Mrs.  Virginia  Reed  Murphy,  Mr.  Reed's  daughter, 
who  was  then  a  child  of  twelve  years  of  age.1 

Who  can  conceive  the  sad  loneliness  that  flooded 
the  hearts  of  the  forsaken  family,  as  they  ate  their 
scant  meal  that  night  in  their  isolated  wagon  ?  Elliott 
and  a  few  of  the  others  were  as  kind  as  they  could  be, 
but  they  saw  that  it  was  wise  to  be  as  unostentatious 
as  possible,  for  awhile  at  least,  in  what  they  did  for  the 
family  of  the  unfortunate  Reed.  As  the  darkness  of 
night  came  on,  Virginia,  who  had  been  doing  her  best 
to  comfort  her  heart-broken  mother,  spoke  to  her  with 
calm  determination:  "  Mama,  I'm  going  out  to  find 
my  father  and  take  him  some  food  and  his  gun  and 
pistols  and  ammunition."  Startled  out  of  her  over- 

1 "  The  Story  of  Virginia  Reed  Murphy,  one  of  the  Donner  Party," 
by  George  Wharton  James,  soon  to  be  published. 


VIRGINIA   REED  67 

whelming  sorrow  by  the  words  of  her  daughter,  Mrs. 
Reed  exclaimed:  "What  do  you  mean,  child?  You 
cannot  find  your  father!"  But  Virginia  had  fortified 
herself  on  all  points.  She  replied:  "I'm  not  going 
alone.  I've  asked  Milt,  and  he  says  he'll  go  with  me." 
So  while  her  mother  lay  in  silent  agony  of  mind,  the 
child  began  to  gather  together  the  things  she  knew  her 
father  needed.  The  party  had  already  been  put  on 
short  provisions,  but  Virginia  found  some  crackers, 
a  small  piece  of  bacon,  some  coffee  and  sugar.  Then 
she  secured  a  tin  cup  or  dipper  for  her  father  to  make 
coffee  in,  and  placed  his  gun,  pistols  and  ammunition 
with  the  food.  Now  she  got  a  lantern,  saw  that  there 
was  a  piece  of  candle  in  it,  and  then  put  a  number  of 
matches  in  her  pocket  —  most  of  which  she  intended 
to  give  to  her  father. 

All  this  had  to  be  done  silently  and  after  the  other 
children  were  fast  asleep,  for  both  mother  and  child 
knew  that  the  feeling  was  so  strong  she  would  not 
have  been  allowed  to  go  had  any  suspicion  of  her  inten- 
tion entered  the  minds  of  the  rest  of  the  party.  Milton 
had  been  cautioned  by  the  thoughtful  maiden  not  to 
come  near  their  wagon  until  the  whole  camp  was  quiet 
and  asleep,  and  then  to  approach  only  in  the  most 
stealthy  manner. 

When  everything  was  ready,  Virginia  resumed  her 
place  by  her  suffering  mother's  side:  "How  will  you 
find  your  father  this  dark  night  ?  "  the  latter  questioned 
in  a  whisper.  "  I  shall  look  for  his  horse's  tracks  and 
follow  them,"  was  the  instant  response.  Breathlessly 
the  two  waited  for  the  arrival  of  Milton.  Soon  he  was 


68  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

heard.  Then,  after  a  fond  but  silent  farewell  and  a 
heartfelt  "God  bless  you,  my  brave  daughter!"  the 
mother  sank  back  upon  her  couch,  while  the  twelve- 
year-old  girl  and  her  companion  started  out  on  what, 
to  me,  was  one  of  the  bravest  expeditions  of  all  history. 
Out  into  the  darkness  they  creep.  Stealthily  they 
hide  themselves  in  the  shadows  cast  by  the  wagons 
in  the  flickering  light  of  the  dying  camp-fire,  which 
makes  them  dance  and  leap  like  hideous  and  misshapen 
monsters.  They  cautiously  approach  the  unsuspicious 
sentinel,  who  wearily  tramps  back  and  forth,  and 
hold  their  breath  with  anxiety  as  he  suddenly  stops, 
watches  the  sleeping  camp  and  peers  into  the  mysteri- 
ous darkness  of  the  desert.  Lying  down  upon  the 
ground,  they  crawl  and  silently  drag  their  bodies  along 
until  out  of  his  hearing,  and  then,  feeling  with  their 
feet  lest  they  fall  into  unseen  danger,  now  and  again 
startled  by  some  sudden  noise  that  suggests  to  their 
excited  senses  the  presence  of  wild  animals  or  wilder 
men,  they  slowly  increase  the  distance  between  them- 
selves and  the  camp.  At  last  Virginia  whispers: 
"  Stop,  Milt.  Let  us  light  the  lantern!  "  and,  stooping 
down,  she  spreads  out  her  skirts,  so  that  not  the  slight- 
est flash  of  match  or  beam  of  light  can  reach  the  senti- 
nel or  any  other  member  of  the  camp.  Elliott  lights 
the  lantern,  which  she  then  takes  in  her  own  hand 
and  covers  with  her  scant  skirts,  so  that  its  beams 
illuminate  only  the  small  circle  hi  which  she  stands. 
Now,  carefully  looking,  she  searches  eagerly  for  the 
footprints  of  her  father's  horse.  To  and  fro,  back  and 
forth,  she  peers.  Though  feverishly  anxious  and  ready 


VIRGINIA   REED  69 

to  fly  on  the  wings  of  the  lightning,  there  is  no  careless 
haste  in  her  search.  She  is  thoughtful  and  deliberate. 
She  even  completely  circles  the  camp  in  her  intelligent 
determination  to  find  those  tracks.  At  last  her  keen 
search  is  rewarded.  She  starts  forward,  a  half- sob, 
half-cry  of  gratitude  and  thankfulness  escaping  from 
her  lips.  She  turns  to  Milton,  points  to  the  tracks,  and 
then  eagerly  follows  them.  With  all  her  senses  made 
keen  by  agonizing  love,  she  refuses  to  trust  the  first 
assurances  of  her  vision.  Again  and  again  she  kneels 
and  examines  the  tracks  until  she  is  finally  convinced 
she  is  right.  Then  confidently,  but  with  no  relaxation 
of  caution  —  for  an  inadvertent  flash  from  the  lantern 
might  bring  a  death-dealing  shot  from  the  rifle  of  the 
sentinel  —  she  follows  where  they  lead,  Milton  close 
behind  with  the  gun  and  provisions.  On  and  on  they 
go,  —  for  hours  it  seems  to  the  impatient  child.  Mile 
after  mile  the  tracks  lead.  Now  they  have  lost  them. 
They  carefully  circle  and  eagerly  search  to  find  them 
again.  What  an  agony  Virginia  suffers  in  those  few 
moments! 

Listen!  Suddenly  on  the  midnight  air  the  wild 
and  fearful  howl  of  coyotes  makes  the  darkness  hideous 
and  horrible.  From  the  distance  comes  an  even  more 
appalling  and  to  be  dreaded  cry  —  that  of  the  maraud- 
ing panther,  seeking  for  prey.  At  that  cry  it  is  no  fig- 
ment of  the  imagination  to  say  that  Milton's  hair 
stands  on  end.  But  on  they  go  for  a  few  moments. 
Again  they  halt.  With  her  hand  held  tightly  to  her 
breast,  as  if  to  still  the  fearful  beating  of  her  heart, 
Virginia  gazes  with  wild  eyes  into  the  darkness,  while 


70  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

Milton,  strong  and  brave  though  he  is,  seems  paralyzed 
with  fear.  What  has  so  frightened  them?  We  cannot 
see,  but  we  can  conjecture  that  they  have  heard  a  few 
sounds  that  are  more  weird  and  sinister  than  those  of  the 
wild  and  ferocious  desert  animals.  For  they  are  sug- 
gestive of  human  tigers,  whose  lust  for  blood  they  have 
already  had  too  sad  evidence  of,  —  the  Indians  of 
her  childish  fears.  All  the  terror  of  the  past  years  of 
her  life  seem  to  be  condensed  into  the  awful  power 
of  one  dread  moment.  Can  she  possibly  go  on  with 
that  unspeakable  fear  clutching  at  her  heart?  Child 
though  she  is,  she  silently  calls  upon  God  and  summons 
Him  to  help  her.  She  dare  not  be  afraid  when  her 
father  is  in  need  and  in  danger.  Is  she  not  going  to 
minister  to  him  when  no  one  else  can  ? 

Nothing  must  be  allowed  to  deter  her  from  the 
successful  accomplishment  of  this  mission.  So,  forget- 
ful of  her  own  weariness,  steeling  her  heart  to  withstand 
all  fears,  and  resolutely  calming  herself  when  panic 
grips  her  heart-strings  at  the  thought  of  a  possible 
horrible  death  if  captured  by  the  Indians,  she  reso- 
lutely goes  forward.  At  length  her  persistence  and 
bravery  are  rewarded.  She  sees  in  the  far-away  dis- 
tance the  faintest  gleam  of  light.  Her  heart  leaps  up 
with  joy  and  she  whispers  to  Milton:  "  There  is  papa!  " 

The  next  moment  the  startling  thought  springs 
into  being:  "What  if  it  is  an  Indian  fire?"  Then 
her  reason  asserts  itself.  "  You  are  on  the  track  of 
your  father's  horse.  Follow  that,  and  it  will  be  all 
right,  and  if  — "  And  then  for  a  moment  her  heart 
stops  beating  again,  for  the  suggestion  enters  her  mind 


VIRGINIA   REED  71 

that  if  —  ah  if  —  her  father  has  fallen  into  the  hands 
of  a  band  of  treacherous  Indians,  what  might  not  that 
fire  reveal  to  her  ? 

"  But,  anyhow  "  —  comes  the  next  thought,  "  it 
matters  not  what  I  find,  I  can  only  know  by  going 
on."  So,  saying  nothing  to  Milton  of  the  fear  that  al- 
most paralyzes  her,  she  steadily  marches  on.  How 
slowly  they  go !  How  far  away  the  light  is!  Will  they 
never  reach  it  ?  It  seems  as  if  the  more  they  walk  the 
farther  away  it  gets,  until,  glad  moment,  in  its  dim 
rays  the  eyes  of  discerning  love  at  last  recognizes  the 
the  beloved  form,  and  with  a  cry  of  almost  maternal 
yearning  Virginia  sobs  out :  "  Oh,  papa,  my  papa," 
and  the  next  moment  is  convulsively  clutched  to  the 
heart  of  the  despairing  father. 

"  My  child,  my  Virginia,  you  should  not  have  come 
here,"  he  cries,  when  the  first  transport  of  happy  sur- 
prise is  over. 

"  I've  brought  you  some  food,  and  your  gun,  and 
a  blanket,  and  a  little  coffee  and  some  crackers.  And 
here's  a  tin  cup,  too,  father,  and  your  pistols  and  some 
powder  and  caps.  Oh,  and  here  are  some  matches!  " 
replies  the  little  maiden,  laughing  and  crying  in  her 
joy,  as,  one  by  one,  she  spreads  the  articles  out  on 
her  wondering  father's  knees. 

"  Is  this  a  dream  ?  or  is  it  an  angel  visitation  sent 
from  God  ? "  breathlessly  queries  Mr.  Reed.  But 
Virginia  soon  convinces  him  of  her  personal  presence, 
and  as  he  takes  the  gun  and  other  things  she  has 
brought,  he  resolves  with  a  new  and  deeper  resolve 
than  ever,  that,  God  helping  him,  he  will  hurry  on  to 


72  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

California,  and  secure  for  his  brave  little  daughter, 
with  her  sister  and  baby  brothers  and  their  loved 
mother,  the  help  and  succor  they  need. 

Then  his  arms  enfolding  her  to  his  heart,  with 
Milton  near  by,  all  three  sit  and  cry,  until,  their  emotion 
subsiding,  they  talk  of  the  mother,  back  in  camp,  and 
of  Patty  and  James,  and  the  baby.  Two  or  three  hours 
thus  speedily  pass,  until  the  first  sentinels  of  dawn 
silently  make  their  presence  known.  Then  the  fond 
father  sadly  arises  and  bids  his  daughter  say  good-by 
and  go  back  to  her  mother. 

"  Go  back  ?  "  she  cries,  as  if  the  idea  were  ridiculous : 
"I'm  not  going  back,  father;  I'm  going  with  you. 
Milt  will  go  back,  but  I'm  going  on  with  you.  Oh, 
papa,  papa,  don't  send  me  back,  for  I  cannot  bear  to 
see  those  cruel  men.  Let  me  go  with  you!  " 

"  You  know,  Virginia  darling,  I  want  you  badly 
enough,  but  it  cannot  be.  Don't  make  it  harder  for 
me  than  it  is  by  trying  to  go  with  me."  And  then,  he 
gently  unfolds  the  arms  that  convulsively  cling  to  him, 
and  kissing  her  again  and  again,  he  places  her  in  Elliott's 
arms,  with  the  words:  "  Here,  Milt,  take  her  back  to 
her  mother."  The  next  moment,  gathering  up  the 
precious  articles  she  has  brought  to  him  —  articles 
ten  fold  more  precious  because  of  that  fact  —he 
mounts  his  steed  and  rides  out  into  the  solitude  of  the 
western  desert. 


CHAPTER   XI 

THE    GENEROUS    HEROES    OF    DEATH    VALLEY,    MANLY 
AND   ROGERS 

THE  heroism   of   Manly  and   Rogers  is  on  a  par 
with  that  of    Stanton,  whose  story  has  already 
been  told.    The  horrors  of   Death  Valley,  and  how  it 
came  by  its  name  are  told  in  the  next  chapter. 

In  studying  the  history  of  the  pioneers  of  the  State 
of  California,  one  cannot  help  being  impressed  by  the 
stories  of  unconscious  heroism  that,  in  the  most  simple 
and  ingenuous  way,  have  been  recorded  by  their 
unpractised  authors.  It  cannot  be  denied  that  there 
are  few  pioneer  stories  that  can  stand  the  test  of  aca- 
demic criticism.  Few  of  them  are  grammatically  con- 
structed, and  they  nearly  all  reveal  ignorance  of  the 
science  of  rhetoric.  Poorly  written,  wretchedly  punctu- 
ated, badly  constructed,  they  yet  contain  epics  as 
thrilling  as  those  of  Homer,  recitals  as  dramatic  as 
those  of  Caesar,  adventures  as  startling  as  those 
of  Marco  Polo,  achievements  as  brave  as  those  of 
Napoleon.  But  the  world,  for  many  centuries,  has 
been  led  to  believe  that  heroes  are  military  men,  that 
great  achievements  are  only  to  be  looked  for  from  men 
wearing  a  uniform,  and  that  the  acts  that  thrill  the 
soul  are  generally  to  be  expected  during  the  physical 
conflicts  called  war.  We  have  been  blinded  to  the 


74  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

achievements  of  real  bravery  and  true  heroism  by 
the  glare  of  the  false,  the  meretricious,  the  sensational. 
The  time  has  come  when  men  will  see  more  clearly, 
understand  more  fully,  and  when  actions  will  more 
nearly  be  relegated  to  their  proper  altitude  in  the 
esteem  of  the  race.  Hence  we  are  beginning  more  and 
more  to  take  notice  of  the  deeds  of  such  men  as  those 
whose  names  head  this  chapter,  the  story  of  whose 
heroism  is  told  by  one  of  the  participants  in  his  record 
of  Death  Valley, T  with  the  simple  ingenuousness  of  a 
child. 

Of  the  early  experiences  of  the  Death  Valley  party 
space  forbids  more  than  the  barest  mention.  It  was 
one  of  those  combination  parties  that  met  at  Salt 
Lake  City,  and,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Dormer  party, 
they  were  induced  to  take  a  "  cut-off  "  that  led  them 
into  woeful  trouble.  After  numerous  adventures 
and  hardships,  they  arrived  near  the  eastern  side  of 
what  is  now  known  as  Death  Valley.  There  were 
seven  wagons  in  the  party.  The  oxen  were  so  exhausted 
and  poor  that  they  could  travel  no  further,  and  it  was 
decided  that  the  party  must  return  a  little  distance  to 
where  there  was  a  good  spring  and  wait  while  some 
one  went  ahead  and  explored  a  road  to  the  nearest 
California  settlements  and  brought  back  relief. 

Manly  himself  and  a  strong,  burly  Tennessean 
finally  volunteered  for  the  service.  An  ox  that  had 
nearly  "  given  out  "  was  slain  to  provide  food  for  the 
two,  and  the  condition  of  the  poor  creature  can  be 
understood  when  it  is  told  that  seven-eighths  of  its 

1  "Death  Valley  in  '49,"  W.  L.  Manly. 


MANLY  AND  ROGERS  75 

flesh,  dried,  was  packed  into  the  knapsacks  of  the  two 
men.  Manly  writes: 

"  I  consented,  though  I  knew  it  was  a  hazardous 
journey,  exposed  to  all  sorts  of  things,  Indians,  climate 
and  probably  lack  of  water,  but  I  thought  I  could  do  it." 

They  journeyed  over  the  valley,  crossed  the  range, 
following  in  the  track  of  a  party  that  had  gone  on  ahead. 
In  two  or  three  days  they  came  upon  the  dead  body 
of  one  of  them,  who  had  died  in  a  rocky  place  where 
it  was  impossible  to  make  a  grave.  Soon  they  caught 
up  with  this  party,  who  were  already  growing  despond- 
ent, as  another  member  had  died.  Then,  pushing  on 
ahead,  the  two  went  on  their  errand,  and,  in  due  time, 
reached  the  San  Fernando  Valley  over  the  Soledad 
Pass,  where  peace  and  plenty  abounded.  Here  they 
met  with  a  man  named  French,  who  took  them  to  the 
San  Fernando  Mission,  where  they  were  kindly  treated, 
and  provided  with  two  horses,  provisions,  pack-saddles 
and  ropes,  and  shown  how  to  pack  their  animals 
properly.  Then  Manly  bought  a  little,  one-eyed  mule, 
and  Rogers  purchased  a  horse,  —  a  snow-white  mare. 

At  once  they  started  on  their  way  back.  At  first 
it  was  easy;  then  they  came  to  the  desert  over  which 
they  had  crossed  before  with  so  much  difficulty,  and 
finally  to  a  range  of  mountains  on  the  other  side  of 
which  they  knew  their  comrades  were  anxiously  await- 
ing them.  They  had  already  been  longer  than  the 
time  appointed,  and  were  they  to  go  the  route  they 
had  come  —  around  the  range  to  the  north  —  they 
would  occupy  several  days  longer.  So  they  decided 
to  cross  the  range.  Their  pack  and  saddle-horses 


76  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

were  now  almost  exhausted,  and  only  the  little  mule 
seemed  able  to  pick  up  enough  scant  living  to  keep 
up  his  strength.  At  last  they  came  to  a  place  where 
they  were  compelled  to  leave  the  horses  and  go  on, 
the  mule  being  able  to  go  where  the  horses  could  not 
follow.  Here  let  Manly  tell  the  story: 

"  We  removed  the  saddles  and  placed  them  on  a 
rock,  and  after  a  few  moments'  hesitation,  —  mo- 
ments in  which  were  crowded  torrents  of  wild  ideas 
and  desperate  thoughts  that  were  enough  to  drive 
Reason  from  her  throne,  we  left  the  poor  animals  to 
their  fate  and  moved  along.  Just  as  we  were  passing 
out  of  sight  the  poor  creatures  neighed  pitifully  after 
us,  and  one  who  has  never  heard  the  last  despairing, 
pleading  neigh  of  a  horse  left  to  die  can  form  no  idea  of 
its  almost  human  appeal.  We  both  burst  into  tears,  but 
it  was  no  use,  —  to  try  to  save  them  we  must  run  the 
danger  of  sacrificing  ourselves  and  the  little  party 
we  were  trying  so  hard  to  save. 

"  We  found  the  little  mule  stopped  by  a  still  higher 
precipice  or  perpendicular  rise  of  fully  ten  feet.  Our 
hearts  sank  within  us  and  we  said  that  we  should 
return  to  our  friends  as  we  wrent  away,  with  our  knap- 
sacks on  our  backs,  and  the  hope  grew  very  small.  The 
little  mule  was  nipping  some  stray  blades  of  grass,  and 
as  we  came  in  sight  she  looked  around  to  us  and  then 
up  the  steep  rocks  before  her  with  such  a  knowing, 
intelligent  look  of  confidence,  that  it  gave  us  new  cour- 
age. It  was  a  strange  wild  place.  The  north  wall  of 
the  canyon  leaned  far  over  the  channel,  overhanging 
considerably,  while  the  south^  wall  sloped  back  about 


MANLY  AND   ROGERS  77 

the  same,  making  the  wall  nearly  parallel,  and  like  a 
huge  crevice  descending  into  the  mountain  from  above  in 
a  sloping  direction.  We  decided  to  try  to  get  the  con- 
fident little  mule  over  this  obstruction.  Gathering 
all  the  loose  rocks  we  could,  we  piled  them  up  against 
the  south  wall,  beginning  some  distance  below,  putting 
up  all  those  in  the  bed  of  the  stream  and  throwing 
down  others  from  narrow  shelves  above;  we  built  a 
sort  of  inclined  plane  along  the  walls,  gradually  rising  till 
we  were  nearly  as  high  as  the  crest  of  the  fall.  Here  was 
a  narrow  shelf  scarcely  four  inches  wide  and  a  space 
of  from  twelve  to  fifteen  feet  to  cross  to  reach  the  level 
of  the  crest.  It  was  all  I  could  do  to  cross  this  space, 
and  there  was  no  foundation  to  enable  us  to  widen  it 
so  as  to  make  a  path  for  an  animal.  It -was  a  forlorn 
hope  but  we  made  the  most  of  it.  We  unpacked  the 
mule,  and  getting  all  our  ropes  together,  made  a  leading 
line  of  them.  Then  we  loosened  and  threw  down  all  the 
projecting  points  of  rocks  we  could  above  the  narrow 
shelf,  and  every  piece  that  was  likely  to  come  loose 
in  the  shelf  itself.  We  fastened  the  leading  line  to 
her,  and  with  one  above  and  one  below  we  thought 
we  could  help  her  to  keep  her  balance,  and  if  she 
did  not  make  a  misstep  on  that  narrow  way  she 
might  get  over  safely.  Without  a  moment's  hesi- 
tation the  brave  animal  tried  the  pass.  Carefully 
and  steadily  she  went  along,  selecting  a  place  before 
putting  down  a  foot,  and  when  she  came  to  the 
narrow  ledge  leaned  gently  on  the  rope,  never  making 
a  sudden  start  or  jump,  but  cautiously  as  a  cat  moved 
slowly  along.  There  was  now  no  turning  back  for  her. 


78  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

She  must  cross  this  narrow  place  over  which  I  had 
to  creep  on  hands  and  knees,  or  be  dashed  down  fifty 
feet  to  a  certain  death.  When  the  worst  place  was 
reached  she  stopped  and  hesitated,  looking  back  as  well 
as  she  could.  I  was  ahead  with  the  rope,  and  I  called 
encouragingly  to  her  and  talked  to  her  a  little.  Rogers 
wanted  to  get  ready  and  he  said,  '  holler  '  at  her  as 
loud  as  he  could  and  frighten  her  across,  but  I  thought 
the  best  way  was  to  talk  to  her  gently  and  let  her 
move  steadily. 

"  It  was  a  trying  moment.  It  seemed  to  be  weighed 
down  with  all  the  trials  and  hardships  of  many  months. 
It  seemed  to  be  the  time  when  helpless  women  and 
innocent  children  hung  on  the  trembling  balance  be- 
tween life  and  death.  Our  own  lives  we  could  save  by 
going  back,  and  sometimes  it  seemed  as  if  ive  would  save 
ourselves  the  additional  sorrow  of  finding  them  all  dead 
to  do  so  at  once.  I  was  so  nearly  in  despair  that  I  could 
not  help  bursting  into  tears,  and  I  was  not  ashamed 
of  the  weakness." 

I  would  have  my  readers  note  carefully  the  words 
italicized,  for  the  italics  are  mine,  not  Manly's.  Here 
is  a  clear  evidence  of  the  presence  of  the  temptation 
to  go  back  and  abandon  the  attempt  at  relief,  and  even 
the  specious  argument  with  which  it  was  forced  upon 
his  attention,  as  well  as  a  candid  and  frank  recognition 
of  the  desire  to  yield  to  the  temptation,  —  "  and  some- 
times it  seemed  as  if  we  would  perhaps  save  ourselves 
the  additional  sorrow  of  finding  them  all  dead  to 
return  at  once."  Yet  the  brave  fellows  manfully  faced 
death  for  themselves  and  went  on. 


MANLY  AND   ROGERS  79 

•To  resume  Manly 's  story: 

"  Finally  Rogers  said,  '  Come,  Lewis! '  and  I  gently 
pulled  the  rope,  calling  the  little  animal  to  make  a  trial. 
She  smelled  all  around  and  looked  over  every  inch  of 
the  strong  ledge,  then  took  one  careful  step  after  an- 
other over  the  dangerous  place.  Looking  back,  I  saw 
Rogers  with  a  very  large  stone  in  his  hand,  ready  to 
'  holler  '  and  perhaps  kill  the  poor  beast  if  she  stopped. 
But  she  crept  along,  trusting  to  the  rope  for  balance,  till 
she  was  half  way  across,  then  another  step  or  two,  when, 
calculating  the  distance  closely,  she  made  a  spring 
and  landed  on  a  smooth'  bit  of  sloping  rock  below, 
that  led  up  to  the  highest  crest  of  the  precipice,  and 
safely  climbed  to  the  top,  safe  and  sound  above  the 
fall." 

What  a  picture !  Some  day  I  hope  one  of  California's 
artists  will  paint  it,  so  that  a  copy  may  be  placed  in 
every  school  in  the  State,  as  a  reminder  of  the  golden- 
hearted  heroism  of  the  men  and  the  courage  of  the 
brave  little  mule. 

As  they  neared  the  camp,  they  came  upon  the  dead 
body  of  one  of  the  men  they  had  left  when  they  started 
on  their  California  journey,  so  it  was  with  some  trepida- 
tion that  they  finally  reached  the  wagons.  There  they 
found  that  several  members  of  the  party  had  grown 
impatient  and  had  determined  to  go  on  ahead,  some 
of  tljem  declaring  that  "  If  those  boys  (Manly  and 
Rogers)  ever  get  out  of  this  cussed  hole,  they  will  be 
'tarnal  fools  if  they  ever  come  back  to  help  anybody." 
But  they  had  kept  their  pledges,  and  had  brought  new 
life  and  hope  to  the  almost  discouraged  ones,  so  that 


8o  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

now  they  were  ready  once  again  to  endure  the  hard- 
ships that  were  before  them,  and  to  journey  on  to 
the  California  of  their  desire. 

The  story  of  that  journey  is  fascinating  to  the  reader, 
though  arduous  and  heart-breaking  to  those  who  made 
it,  but  we  have  space  here  for  pictures  of  two  only 
of  their  experiences.  As  the  horses  were  unable  to 
get  through,  arrangements  were  made  to  carry  the 
women  and  children  on  the  oxen.  Let  Manly  tell 
the  story  of  their  plans: 

"  They  had  selected  two  oxen  for  the  women  to  ride, 
one  to  carry  water,  and  one  to  carry  the  four  children. 
There  were  no  saddles,  but  blankets  enough  to  make  a 
soft  seat,  and  they  proposed  to  put  a  band  or  belt 
around  the  animals  for  the  riders  to  hold  on  by,  and 
the  blankets  would  be  retained  in  place  by  breast 
and  breeching  straps  which  had  been  made.  They 
had  found  out  that  it  was  very  difficult  to  keep  a  load 
of  any  kind  upon  an  ox,  and  had  devised  all  this  harness 
to  meet  the  trouble." 

To  carry  the  smaller  children  a  kind  of  "  pannier," 
had  been  made  by  taking  two  strong  shirts,  turning  the 
sleeves  inside,  sewing  up  the  necks,  and  then  sewing 
the  two  tails  together.  When  this  was  placed  across 
the  ox  a  pocket  was  formed  on  each  side  large  enough 
to  carry  a  small  child.  It  took  them  some  time  to 
select  from  their  wagons  what  they  should  take,  and 
what  leave. 

"  Mrs.  Arcane  was  from  a  city  and  had  fondly  con- 
veyed thus  far  some  articles  of  finery,  of  considerable 
value  and  much  prized.  She  could  not  be  persuaded 


MANLY  AND   ROGERS  81 

to  leave  them  here  to  deck  the  red  man's  wife,  and 
have  her  go  flirting  over  the  mountains  with,  and  as 
.they  had  little  weight  she  concluded  she  would  wear 
them  and  this  would  perhaps  preserve  them.  So 
she  got  out  her  best  hat  and  trimmed  it  up  with  extra 
ribbon,  leaving  some  with  quite  long  ends  to  stream 
out  behind.  Arcane  brought  up  his  ox,  Old  Brigham, 
for  he  had  been  purchased  at  Salt  Lake  and  named  in 
honor  of  the  great  Mormon  Saint. 

"  Mrs.  Arcane  also  dressed  her  little  boy  Charlie 
in  his  best  suit  of  clothes,  for  she  thought  he  might 
as  well  wear  them  out  as  to  throw  them  away. 
She  made  one  think  of  a  fairy  in  gay  and  flying  ap- 
parel. In  the  same  way  all  selected  their  best  and  most 
serviceable  garments,  for  it  was  not  considered  prudent 
to  carry  any  load,  and  poor  clothes  were  good  enough 
to  leave  for  Indians.  .  .  .  High  overhead  was  the  sun, 
and  very  warm  indeed  on  that  day  hi  the  fore  part  of 
February,  1850,  when  the  two  children  were  put  on  Old 
Crump  to  see  if  he  would  let  them  ride.  The  two  small 
children  were  placed  in  the  pockets  on  each  side, 
face  outward,  and  they  could  stand  or  sit  as  they  should 
choose.  George  and  Melissa  were  placed  on  top,  and 
given  hold  of  the  strap  that  was  to  steady  them  in 
their  place.  I  now  led  up  Mrs.  Bennett's  ox,  and 
Mr.  Bennett  helped  his  wife  to  mount  the  animal,  on 
whose  back  as  soft  a  seat  as  possible  had  been  con- 
structed. Mrs.  Arcane,  in  her  ribbons,  was  now  helped 
to  her  seat  on  the  back  of  Old  Brigham,  and  she  care- 
fully adjusted  herself  to  position,  and  arranged  her 
dress  and  ornaments  to  suit,  then  took  hold  of  the 


82  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

strap  that  served  to  hold  on  by  as  there  were  no  bridles 
on  these  two. 

"  Rogers  led  the  march  with  his  ox ;  Bennett  and  I 
started  the  others  along,  and  Arcane  followed  with 
Old  Crump  and  the  children.  Bennett  and  Arcane 
took  of!  their  hats  and  bade  the  old  camp  good-by. 
The  whole  procession  moved,  and  we  were  once  more 
going  towards  our  journey's  end,  we  hoped.  The  road 
was  sandy  and  soft,  the  grade  practically  level,  and 
everything  went  well  for  about  four  miles,  when  the 
pack  on  one  of  the  oxen  near  the  lead  got  loose  and 
turned  over  to  one  side,  which  he  no  sooner  saw  thus  out 
of  position,  than  he  tried  to  get  away  from  it  by  moving 
sidewise.  Not  getting  clear  of  the  objectionable  load  in 
this  way,  he  tried  to  kick  it  off,  and  thus  really  got 
his  foot  in  it,  making  matters  worse  instead  of  better. 
Then  he  began  a  regular  waltz  and  bawled  at  the  top 
of  his  voice  hi  terror.  Rogers  tried  to  catch  him,  but 
his  own  animal  was  so  frisky  that  he  could  not  hold 
him  and  do  much  else,  and  the  spirit  of  fear  soon 
began  to  be  communicated  to  the  others  and  the 
whole  train  seemed  to  be  taken  crazy. 

"  They  would  jump  up,  and  then  come  down,  stick- 
ing their  fore  feet  as  far  as  possible  into  the  sand,  after 
which,  with  elevated  tails,  and  terrible  plunges,  they 
would  kick  and  thrash  and  run  until  the  pack  came  off, 
when  they  stopped,  apparently  quite  satisfied. 

"  Mrs.  Bennett  slipped  off  her  ox  as  quick  as  she 
could,  grabbed  her  baby  from  the  pocket  on  Old 
Crump,  and  shouting  to  Melissa  and  George  to  jump, 
got  her  family  in  safe  position  hi  pretty  short  order. 


MANLY  AND   ROGERS  83 

Arcane  took  his  Charlie  from  the  other  pocket  and 
laid  him  on  the  ground,  while  he  devoted  his  own  atten- 
tion to  the  animals.  Mrs.  Arcane's  ox  followed  suit, 
and  waltzed  around  in  the  sand,  bawled  at  every  turn 
fully  as  bad  as  any  of  the  others,  but  Mrs.  Arcane 
proved  to  be  a  good  rider,  and  hard  to  unseat,  cling- 
ing desperately  to  her  strap  as  she  was  tossed  up  and 
down,  and  whirled  about  at  a  rate  enough  to  make  any 
one  dizzy.  Her  many  fine  ribbons  flew  out  behind 
like  the  streamers  from  a  mast-head,  and  the  many 
fancy  '  fixins '  she  had  donned  fluttered  in  the  air  in 
gayest  mockery.  Eventually  she  was  thrown  however, 
but  without  the  least  injury  to  herself,  but  somewhat 
disordered  in  raiment.  When  I  saw  Bennett  he  was 
half  bent  over  laughing  in  almost  hysterical  convulsions 
at  the  entirely,  impromptu  circus  which  had  so  suddenly 
performed  an  act  not  on  the  program.  Arcane  was 
much  pleased  and  laughed  heartily  when  he  saw  no 
one  was  hurt.  We  did  not  think  the  cattle  had  so  much 
life  and  so  little  sense  as  to  waste  their  energies  so 
uselessly.  The  little  mule  stepped  out  one  side  and 
looked  on  in  amazement,  without  disarranging  any 
article  of  her  load." 

Thus  tragedy  and  comedy  elbowed  each  other  on 
this  wonderful  journey.  The  little  party  soon  got 
over  their  excitement,  and  in  due  time  reached  the 
place  where  Manly  and  Rogers  had  left  the  two 
horses.  It  was  with  much  trepidation  they  approached 
this  precipice,  and  a  halt  was  made  to  enable  a  careful 
examination  to  be  made.  They  finally  decided  to 
attempt  it.  Says  Manly: 


84  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

"  We  men  all  went  down  to  the  foot  of  the  fall,  and 
threw  out  all  the  large  rocks,  then  piled  up  all  the  sand 
we  could  scrape  together  with  the  shovel,  till  we  had 
quite  a  pile  that  would  tend  to  break  the  fall. 

"  Early  in  the  morning  we  took  our  soup  hastily,  and 
with  ropes  lowered  our  luggage  over  the  small  preci- 
pice, then  the  children,  and  finally  all  the  ropes  were 
combined  to  make  a  single  strong  one  about  thirty  feet 
long.  They  urged  one  of  the  oxen  up  to  the  edge  of  the 
fall,  put  the  rope  around  his  horns,  and  threw  down 
the  end  to  me,  whom  they  had  stationed  below.  I  was 
told  to  pull  hard  when  he  started  so  that  he  might  not 
light  on  his  head  and  break  his  neck.  We  felt  this 
was  a  desperate  undertaking,  and  we  fully  expected 
to  lose  some  of  our  animals,  but  our  case  was  critical 
and  we  must  take  some  chances.  Bennett  stood  on  one 
side  of  the  ox,  and  Arcane  on  the  other,  while  big 
Rogers  was  placed  in  the  rear  to  give  a  regular  Tennes- 
see boost  when  the  word  was  given.  '  Now  for  it,'  said 
Bennett,  and  as  I  braced  on  the  rope  those  above  gave 
a  push  and  the  ox  came  over,  sprawling,  but  landed 
safely,  cut  only  a  little  by  some  angular  stones  in  the 
sand  pile.  '  Good  enough,'  said  some  one,  and  I  threw 
the  rope  back  for  another  ox.  '  We'll  get  'em  all  over 
safely,'  said  Arcane,  '  if  Lewis,  down  there,  will  keep 
them  from  getting  their  necks  broken.'  Lewis  pulled 
hard  every  time,  and  not  a  neck  was  broken.  The  sand 
pile  was  renewed  every  time  and  made  as  high  and 
soft  as  possible,  and  very  soon  all  our  animals  were 
below  the  fall.  The  little  mule  gave  a  jump  when  they 
pushed  her,  and  lighted  squarely  on  her  feet  all  right. 


MANLY  AND  ROGERS  85 

With  the  exception  of  one  or  two  slight  cuts,  which 
bled  some,  the  oxen  were  all  right  and  we  began  loading 
them  at  once. 

"  Bennett  and  Arcane  assisted  their  wives  down  along 
the  little  narrow  ledge  which  we  used  in  getting  up, 
keeping  their  faces  towards  the  rocky  wall,  and  feeling 
carefully  for  every  footstep.  Thus  they  worked  along 
and  landed  safely  by  the  time  we  had  the  animals 
ready  for  the  march.  We  had  passed  without  disaster 
the  obstacle  we  most  feared,  and  started  down  the 
rough  canyon  with  hope  revived,  and  we  felt  we  should 
get  through.  After  winding  around  among  the  great 
boulders  for  a  little  while,  we  came  to  the  two  horses 
we  had  left  behind,  both  dead  and  near  together. 
We  pointed  to  the  carcasses,  and  told  them  those  were 
the  horses  we  brought  for  the  women  to  ride,  and  that  is 
the  way  they  were  cheated  out  of  their  passage.  The 
bodies  of  the  animals  had  not  been  touched  by  bird  or 
beast." 

While  they  still  had  an  arduous  and  weary  journey 
ahead  of  them,  the  worst  of  it  was  over,  and  they 
reached  Los  Angeles  in  safety  and  happiness,  there  to 
again  scatter  and  mingle  with  the  life  of  the  new  State, 
and  become  a  part  of  its  future  activities. 


CHAPTER   XII 

THE    UNKNOWN    HEROES     OF    DEATH     VALLEY 

IN  the  story  of  the  Donner  party,  the  horrors  of 
snow  and  cold  were  revealed,  in  that  out  of  the  more 
than  eighty  people  who  camped  there,  but  forty  es- 
caped and  reached  the  promised  land  of  California. 

Manly  and  his  party  crossed  Death  Valley,  and 
various  members  of  his  and  preceding  parties  perished, 
but  they  were  blessed  in  the  fact  that  the  winter,  which 
brought  cold  and  snow  to  the  Donner  party  in  the 
north,  made  their  passage  over  the  desert  possible. 
For,  in  summer,  only  the  most  heat-hardened  and 
experienced  may  dare  attempt  to  cross  Death  Valley. 

It  is  known,  however,  that  another  party  endeavored 
to  accomplish  this  impossible  journey  in  the  heat  of 
summer,  and  were  caught  in  its  merciless  furnace  so 
that  not  a  single  person  escaped  to  tell  the  sad  tale. 
Robert  E.  Rinehart,  in  the  Los  Angeles  Times  for 
Sunday,  August  16,  1908,  gives  a  graphic  description, 
from  which  the  following  account  is  taken. 

"  Three  errors  of  judgment  furnished  Death  Valley 
with  the  party  that  gave  it  its  name.  The  lost  wagon- 
train  attempted  to  cross  the  desert  and  the  valley  in 
the  height  of  summer. 

"  Reaching  the  valley,  the  emigrants,  ignorant  of 
the  preternatural  dryness  of  the  spot  in  summer, 


HEROES  OF  DEATH  VALLEY    87 

entered  the  hot  hollow  with  only  an  ordinary  supply  of 
water;  and  last  and  most  fatal  of  all,  instead  of  going 
south  as  the  Jayhawkers  had  done,  they  went  north. 
Yet  their  mistakes,  outside  the  ill-chosen  summer,  were 
excusable.  In  truth  their  mistakes  would  normally 
have  occurred  to  any  party  in  the  same  position.  The 
two  serious  errors  had  a  large  element  of  bad  luck,  a  sort 
of  Nemesis.  The  party  was  doomed. 

"  But  who  were  the  members  of  this  wretched  party  ? 
Whence  did  they  come?  What  friends  and  relatives 
had  they  abandoned  in  the  East  at  the  lure  of  California 
gold? 

"  These  are  unanswered  questions.  A  few  names, 
alleged  victims  of  this  party,  have  been  preserved  by 
Death  Valley  tradition;  but  who  can  say  tradition 
has  been  accurate?  It  has  run  riot  with  the  number 
of  victims.  Sometimes  the  death  toll  is  thirty;  again 
it  is  thirteen.  Indeed,  little  is  known  about  the  doomed 
wagon-train  beyond  its  wretched  climb  of  the  Funeral 
Range,  its  pitiful,  plucky  progress  down  Furnace  Creek 
Canyon,  its  dreadful  death  march  up  the  furnace-like 
valley  and  the  horror  of  the  end  up  among  the  desolate 
sand  dunes  of  Death  Valley.  Overland  history,  bitter 
as  it  is  with  desert  hardship  and  suffering,  has  no  equal 
to  this  last  chapter  of  the  death  party  that  named  Death 
Valley. 

"  Uncertainty  shrouds  the  early  movements  of  the 
ill-fated  wagon-train.  It  probably  set  out  from  Salt 
Lake  City  some  time  in  the  early  summer  of  1850. 
Manifestly  it  was  ill-advised  and  under  poor  guidance 
or  it  would  never  have  attempted  the  southern  trail 


88  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

at  that  time  of  year.  To  all  appearances  no  seasoned 
desert  man  was  with  it.  But  it  had  courage.  This 
courage  and  its  desert  ignorance  carried  it  far  in  face 
of  great  hardship  and  handicap  —  carried  it  to  Death 
Valley  and  death. 

"  Vague  as  was  the  early  travel  of  these  emigrants, 
their  later  trail  is  plain.  In  the  great  heat  of  the 
summer  they  reached  Ash  Meadows  and  the  Amargossa 
Wash.  Probably  they  had  been  drawn  from  the  regu- 
lar trail  by  the  wheel  marks  of  the  Jayhawkers  and  their 
followers.  At  Ash  Meadows  they  found  plenty  of 
water,  and  in  good  condition  and  good  spirits,  still 
following  the  Jayhawker  wagon  ruts,  set  out  for  the 
divide  over  the  Funeral  Range  clearly  apparent  ahead 
on  the  western  horizon. 

"  During  this  trip  began  their  distress.  The  journey 
to  the  summit  proved  longer  and  steeper  than  it  looked. 
The  rough  trail  taxed  the  oxen  cruelly,  plodding  along 
with  the  great  lumbering  wagons.  The  midsummer 
desert  sun  blazed  hotter  with  every  pull.  It  was  a 
good  forty-mile  drag  uphill.  The  last  half  was  a  bitter 
trail. 

"  Here  the  doomed  emigrants  began  to  write  their 
tragedy  on  the  desert  floor.  The  oxen  from  sheer 
exhaustion  could  not  draw  the  heavy  wagons.  To 
lessen  the  loads,  household  articles  were  cast  along  the 
trail.  Women  as  well  as  men  walked  beside  the  wagons. 

"  In  a  deplorable  state  the  party  reached  the  summit 
from  which  the  trail  leading  downward  gave  an  easier 
way.  But  it  had  been  on  short  water  supply  for  many 
an  hour,  because  since  leaving  Ash  Meadows  no  water 


HEROES  OF  DEATH  VALLEY    89 

was  to  be  had.  Water-famished,  the  emigrants  toiled 
down  Furnace  Creek  Wash.  To  add  to  their  trials  a 
band  of  Indians  waylaid  them  at  a  bend  in  the  wash 
and  killed  a  number  of  their  oxen.  The  emigrants 
beat  off  their  assailants  and  plodded  on  down  the 
trail,  arriving  finally  at  Furnace  Creek  Canyon;  and 
at  last,  none  too  soon,  at  the  rippling,  rushing  little 
Furnace  Creek.  The  water  was  very  hot,  but  it  was 
good  spring  water  and  good  Samaritan  water  to  the 
distressed  wagon-train. 

"  That  the  party  stopped  a  few  days  at  Furnace 
Creek  to  recuperate  is  certain.  From  its  scouts  it 
learned  that  the  canyon  opened  into  a  valley  white-hot. 
It  must  have  appreciated  that  the  worst  lay  ahead,  for 
which  was  needed  every  ounce  of  strength  and  forti- 
tude. It  could  not  go  back.  It  had  to  go  forward  into 
the  unforbidding  unknown.  So  one  morning  it  stood 
at  the  Furnace  Creek  Canyon  gateway  and  gazed  out 
into  the  bowl-like  Death  Valley,  red,  fiery-red  around 
the  rim;  white,  withering- white  at  the  bottom's  dip. 

"  The  emigrants  had  the  choice  of  the  south  or  the 
north,  safety  or  death.  No  Jayhawkers'  wagon  ruts 
were  there  to  mark  the  way  to  the  south  and  safety. 
That  trail  had  been  buried  beneath  the  rocky  spew 
flushed  down  Furnace  Creek  Canyon  by  the  spring  and 
summer  cloudbursts.  To  the  south  lay  the  long  length 
of  the  valley,  with  its  glaring,  ominous  salt  marsh. 
Banked  on  the  other  side  was  a  seemingly  unsurmount- 
able  mountain  range.  To  the  north,  around  the  rim 
of  the  valley,  ran  what  seemed  level  ground  for  the 
wagons.  True,  far  up  in  the  north  the  hollow  ended 


90  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

with  an  embankment  of  buttes.  This  was  more  or  less 
discouraging,  but  beyond  them  the  barricading 
mountain  range  appeared  to  break  and  give  a  passage 
out  to  the  west.  Moreover,  the  north  way  avoided  the 
salt  marsh.  This  way  promised  release.  They  chose 
the  north,  and  death. 

"  Appreciating  the  long  burning  road  ahead,  the 
emigrants  filled  every  available  keg,  bucket,  camp  pot 
and  kettle  with  water  from  Furnace  Creek.  They 
feared  that  water  might  run  low  in  the  toil  up  the  valley. 
They  reasoned  that  perhaps  that  water  supply  might 
have  to  hold  over  until  the  next  day.  With  such  a  gen- 
erous store  of  it,  however,  they  were  more  than  hopeful 
of  withstanding  even  the  thirst  attacks  of  two  days. 
They  reasoned  well,  for  how  could  they  know  the 
deadly,  sinister  character  of  that  deep  hot  hollow 
ahead  ? 

"  To  understand  the  torture  of  that  last  day's  travel, 
the  unlooked-for  vanishing  of  that  generous  supply 
of  water,  and  the  mysterious  exhaustion  of  man  and 
beast,  one  must  know  Death  Valley  in  summer.  One 
must  know  that  this  furnace  spot,  the  lowest  dry  land 
in  the  western  hemisphere,  perhaps  in  the  world,  is 
also  the  most  arid.  The  hot,  withering  desert  winds, 
dry  as  an  oven  blast,  blow  into  the  south  entrance 
of  the  valley  and  sweep  northward  as  up  a  chimney. 
They  blow  over  the  surface  of  the  sizzling  salt  marsh. 
These  winds,  already  low  in  moisture,  as  they  slip 
over  the  griddle-like  marsh,  are  roasted.  By  the  time 
they  reach  the  north  end  of  the  valley  they  are  destitute 
of  moisture  as  a  cinder.  It  is  asserted  that  in  August 


HEROES  OF  DEATH  VALLEY    91 

the  air  at  the  north  end  of  Death  Valley  has  less  than 
five  per  cent,  humidity.  When  one  considers  that 
seventy  per  cent,  humidity  is  pleasantly  normal,  the 
terrible  strain  of  Death's  Valley's  five  per  cent,  humidity 
can  be  rated  for  all  its  evil.  A  pedestrian  cannot  walk 
half  a  mile  through  this  blasting  atmosphere  without 
several  generous  draughts  of  water.  Desert  nomads, 
seasoned  desert  travelers  —  for  no  others  venture 
on  a  Death  Valley  tramp  hi  summer  —  have  drunk  a 
gallon  of  water  in  going  two  miles.  The  arid  air  when 
drawn  into  the  lungs  fairly  licks  the  moisture  from  the 
body's  tissues. 

"  Picture,  then,  the  anguish  of  the  day  and  night 
after  the  band  of  doomed  emigrants  set  out  from  the 
mouth  of  Furnace  Creek  Canyon  on  their  death  march 
around  the  northeast  segment  of  Death  Valley.  Along 
the  broiling  rocky  floor  the  tired  oxen,  stumbling, 
dragged  the  wobbly  wagons.  Men  and  women  in 
anguish  tramped  a  trail  so  blistering  that  in  these  days 
a  desert  man  wraps  his  feet  in  moistened  sacks  before 
he  trusts  himself  to  the  same  scorching  way.  The  evil 
sun  poured  down  its  heat  rays  upon  the  travelers  and 
shriveled  their  very  skin.  The  withering  desert  air, 
breathed  into  their  lungs,  inflamed  their  tissues.  Mental 
and  bodily  lassitude  seized  them.  In  helpless  horror 
they  saw  their  water  store  dwindling  before  the  unre- 
strainable  call  of  man  and  beast.  Yet,  driven  by 
despair,  that  death  party  pushed  on  more  than  twenty- 
five  miles  through  sun  and  sand,  and  at  night  camped 
beyond  the  North  Buttes  among  the  sand  dunes.  They 
reached  their  journey's  objective  point  as  planned  in 


92  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

the  morning,  and  found  ahead  of  them  the  divide 
through  the  Panamints.  To  this  day  they  call  the  place 
Emigrants'  Pass.  But  the  emigrants  never  passed 
over  it. 

"  Wonderful  was  the  persistent  pluck  of  that  doomed 
party.  With  an  order  worthy  of  bright  promise  rather 
than  impending  destruction,  the  men  made  their  last 
camp.  Wagons  were  backed  into  the  regulation  circle, 
their  tongues  pointing  outward,  and  chains  and  ox- 
yokes  laid  out  hi  approved  overland  fashion.  The 
cattle  were  turned  loose  to  rustle.  Camp  fires  were  lit, 
built  from  the  scant  desert  fuel.  Supper  was  cooked 
and  eaten,  but  it  was  a  supper  without  water,  for  the 
supply  was  practically  gone,  and  near  the  camp  were 
no  signs  of  water.  Then  all  lay  down  in  the  mystery 
of  the  desert  darkness. 

"  In  the  gamut  of  desert  hardship  there  is  no  horror 
such  as  the  horror  of  a  camp  without  water.  Horses 
whine  pitifully,  and  cattle  bawl  hoarsely  hi  their  efforts 
to  make  known  the  unspeakable  thirst  torture  they  do 
not  understand.  Fantasy  plays  with  the  restless  nerves 
and  minds  of  men  and  women,  and  drives  them  to 
delirium.  Thirst-  maddened,  men  and  women  shriek 
for  water.  On  that  dreadful  night  Death  Valley's 
christening  party  drank  the  bitterest  cup  of  human  woe. 

"  Wretched  as  was  the  night,  the  dawn  that  broke 
on  the  luckless  camp  was  worse.  Madness,  thirst 
madness,  had  set  in.  Men  and  women  hi  frenzy  fled 
the  camp,  and  scattered  at  random  over  the  trackless 
sand  waste  in  search  of  water.  Some  too  weak  to  leave 
the  wagons,  abandoned  by  their  fellows,  perished 


HEROES  OF  DEATH  VALLEY    93 

miserably  in  camp.  Bookish  altruism  had  vanished 
with  the  water.  Fugitives  flying  in  vain,  a  foe  within 
them,  scoured  the  sun-scorched  sand  of  Lost  Valley. 
The  strongest  reached  the  canyons  of  the  Panamint 
Mountains,  and  found  water,  only  to  die  of  starvation 
in  the  valleys  and  mountains  beyond.  Others,  crazed, 
came  to  the  bitter  ripples  of  Salt  Creek  and  in  their 
delirium  gulped  down  the  brackish,  poisonous  water. 
They  died  beside  the  stream.  Lone  wanderers,  lost 
among  the  sand  dunes,  dropped  in  their  steps  and 
passed  over  the  Great  Divide.  All  round  the  sombre 
site  of  that  last  camp  were  strewn  the  shining  skeletons 
of  man  and  beast  —  skeletons,  for  the  watchful  coyotes 
saw  to  that." 


CHAPTER   XIII 

THE  WATCHFUL  HERO  SCOUTS,   CARSON  AND  BEALE 

THERE  are  few  more  vivid  pictures  of  the  diffi- 
culties experienced  in  reaching  California  in  the 
early  days  than  some  of  those  published  in  the  United 
States  government  reports  of  Lieutenant- Colonels  W. 
H.  Emory  and  P.  St.  George  Cooke,  and  Captain  A.  R. 
Johnston,  who  marched  from  Santa  ¥6,  via  the  Colo- 
rado Desert,  as  part  of  Kearny's  Army  of  the  West. 
With  the  earlier  part  of  that  journey  we  have  nothing 
to  do,  except  to  state  that,  on  the  sixth  of  October,  1846, 
they  met  Kit  Carson,  the  noted  scout,  who,  with  fifteen 
men,  was  on  his  way  to  Washington,  bearing  despatches 
from  Colonel  Fremont  in  California. 

Knowing  Carson's  ability  as  a  guide  and  scout, 
General  Kearny  prevailed  upon  him  to  allow  the 
despatches  to  be  sent  on  by  another  messenger,  in 
order  that  he  might  return  with  the  invading  army, 
which  he  accordingly  did. 

As  they  came  down  the  Gila  River,  and  neared  the 
Colorado,  they  discovered  a  band  of  five  hundred 
horses  being  taken  to  Mexico,  which  they  captured. 
Colonel  Emory  gives  an  interesting  account  of  the 
way  the  native  Californians  handle  these  horses.  "  The 
captured  horses  were  all  wild  and  but  little  adapted 
for  immediate  service,  but  there  was  rare  sport  in 


CARSON    AND    BEALE  95 

catching  them,  and  we  saw  for  the  first  time  the  lasso 
thrown  with  inimitable  skill.  It  is  a  saying  in  Chi- 
huahua that  '  a  Californian  can  throw  the  lasso  as  well 
with  his  foot  as  a  Mexican  can  with  his  hand,'  and 
the  scene  before  us  gave  us  an  idea  of  its  truth.  There 
was  a  wild  stallion  of  great  beauty  which  defied  the 
fleetest  horse  and  the  most  expert  rider.  At  length  a 
boy  of  fourteen,  a  Californian,  whose  graceful  riding 
was  the  constant  subject  of  admiration,  piqued  by 
repeated  failures,  mounted  a  fresh  horse,  and,  followed 
by  an  Indian,  launched  fiercely  at  the  stallion.  His 
riata  darted  from  his  hand  with  the  force  and  precision 
of  a  rifle  ball,  and  rested  on  the  neck  of  the  fugitive; 
the  Indian,  at  the  same  moment,  made  a  successful 
throw,  but  the  stallion  was  too  stout  for  both,  and 
dashed  off  at  full  speed,  with  both  ropes  flying  in  the 
air  like  wings.  The  perfect  representation  of  Pegasus, 
he  took  a  sweep,  and,  followed  by  his  pursuers,  came 
thundering  down  the  dry  bed  of  the  river.  The  lassos 
were  now  trailing  on  the  ground,  and  the  gallant  young 
Spaniard,  taking  advantage  of  this  circumstance, 
stooped  from  his  flying  horse,  and  caught  one  in  his 
hand.  It  was  the  work  of  a  moment  to  make  it  fast 
to  the  pommel  of  his  saddle,  and,  by  a  short  turn  of 
his  own  horse,  he  threw  the  stallion  a  complete  somer- 
sault, and  the  game  was  secure." 

Less  than  two  weeks  later,  more  mules  and  horses 
were  captured,  but,  like  those  captured  near  the 
mouth  of  the  Gila  River,  they  were  mostly  unbroken, 
and  not  of  much  service.  On  the  fifth  of  December, 
1846,  they  met  Captain  Gillespie,  Lieutenant  Beale 


96  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

and  thirty-five  men,  sent  from  San  Diego  with  a  des- 
patch to  General  Kearny,  and  the  following  day,  at 
San  Pasqual,  they  had  an  engagement  with  the  Cali- 
fornians,  in  which  eighteen  officers  and  men  were 
killed,  and  thirteen  wounded. 

In  the  Life  of  Carson,  written  by  Lieutenant- Colonel 
Dewitt  C.  Peters,  there  is  a  full  account  of  this  disas- 
trous struggle  and  the  specific  actions  that  induced  me 
to  give  to  Carson  and  Beale  a  chapter  in  this  California 
Hero  Book.  Let  me  quote:  "  After  being  thus  badly 
cut  up,  and  with  not  more  than  one  or  two  officers 
left  who  had  not  been  wounded,  while  the  men  had 
been  handled  with  equal  severity,  the  Americans  were 
obliged  to  take  refuge  at  a  point  of  rocks  which  chanced 
to  be  near  where  their  advance  had  been  defeated.  A 
rally  was  made  at  this  place.  The  Mexicans,  however, 
did  not  venture  to  attack  them.  Both  sides  were  ap- 
parently weary  of  fighting  for  that  day.  The  firing 
ceased,  and,  soon  after,  night  closed  over  the  scene 
of  the  battle-field. 

"  General  Kearny's  care  now  was  to  attend  to  the 
wounded.  There  was  no  rest  for  his  command  that 
night,  as,  during  the  hours  of  darkness,  his  men  were 
busy  interring  their  dead  and  looking  after  the  wants  of 
the  sufferers.  A  sharp  lookout,  also,  was  kept  on 
the  movements  of  the  enemy,  who  were  continually  re- 
ceiving reinforcements.  A  council  of  war  was  held 
in  the  American  camp,  when  General  Kearny,  after 
taking  the  advice  of  his  remaining  officers,  decided  to 
move  on  early  in  the  morning,  with  the  hope  of  meeting 
reinforcements.  He  had  despatched  three  men  as 


THE    RANCHO    CHICO,    1854,   JOHN    BIDWELLI/S    HOME. 

Pages  45-55 


JOHN    BIDWELL  S    FIRST    CATTLE    BRAND. 


George  IVharton  James,  Photo. 

JUAN    BAUTISTA    DE    ANZA's    HOUSED   TUBAC,   ARIZONA. 


Page 


DONNER    PARTY   MEMORIAL    CROSS,    NEAR    DONNER    LAKE, 

CALIFORNIA. 

Pages  56-73 


CARSON    AND    BEALE  97 

bearers  of  despatches  to  Commodore  Stockton  at  San 
Diego  before  the  battle;  but,  whether  they  had  been 
successful  or  not  in  reaching  the  commodore,  the 
general  did  not  know.  Just  before  the  late  fight,  they 
had  returned  to  within  sight  of  their  friends,  when  they 
were  taken  prisoners  by  the  Mexicans. 

"  The  order  of  the  march  on  the  following  day  was 
as  follows:  Kit  Carson,  with  a- command  of  twenty-five 
men,  proceeded  in  the  advance,  while  the  remainder  of 
the  now  very  much  crippled  band  of  soldiers  followed 
after  on  the  trail  made  by  their  guide.  Steadily  and 
compactly  these  brave  men  moved  forward,  being 
continually  in  expectancy  of  a  charge  from  the  enemy, 
who  would  show  themselves,  from  time  to  time,  on  the 
neighboring  hills,  and  then  again,  for  a  time,  disap- 
pear. 

"  During  the  previous  day,  a  Mexican  lieutenant 
had  his  horse  shot  from  under  him,  and  he  himself 
had  been  taken  prisoner.  On  a  favorable  opportunity 
occurring,  General  Kearny  ordered  the  '  halt '  to  be 
sounded,  when,  through  a  flag  of  truce,  he  asked  a 
parley.  It  being  granted,  he  succeeded  in  making 
an  exchange  of  the  lieutenant  for  one  of  his  des- 
patch-bearers. He  gained  nothing  by  this,  for  the 
man  stated  that  he  and  his  companions  had  found  it 
impossible  to  reach  their  point  of  destination,  and 
hence  they  had  turned  back. 

"  The  manoeuvring  on  the  part  of  the  Mexicans, 
which  we  have  alluded  to  as  consisting  of  making 
temporary  stands  on  the  hills,  and  then  changing 
their  positions  as  the  Americans  drew  near  to  them, 


98  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

continued  for  the  greater  part  of  the  day.  Finally, 
as  General  Kearny  and  his  men  were  approaching 
the  water,  where  they  intended  to  camp,  and  were  not 
over  five  hundred  yards  from  it,  down  came  the  Mexi- 
cans, divided  into  two  separate  commands,  for  the 
purpose  of  making  a  charge.  They  were  at  first 
warmly  received  by  the  Americans,  who,  after  a  time, 
were  obliged  to  give  way  to  superior  numbers;  but, 
in  doing  so,  they  retreated  in  good  order  to  a  hill  about 
two  hundred  yards  to  their  left.  Here  they  halted, 
and  determined  to  decide  the  battle;  but  the  wary 
Mexicans,  on  seeing  the  strength  of  the  position  taken 
by  their  foes,  declined  to  attack  them,  and  drew  off 
to  a  neighboring  height,  from  which  they  commenced 
and  maintained  a  deadly  fire  on  the  Americans.  Cap- 
tains Emory  and  Turner,  with  all  the  available  dragoons, 
were  sent  to  dislodge  them.  This  they  did  in  splendid 
style,  after  a  sharp  encounter,  and,  when  their  com- 
panions saw  them  take  possession  of  this  position, 
General  Kearny,  with  all  his  wounded  and  luggage- 
trams,  joined  them  there.  Here  a  permanent  resting- 
place,  for  the  time  being,  was  made.  In  fact,  the  men 
had  no  other  choice,  as  they  were  now  pretty  effec- 
tually used  up  from  fighting,  severe  loss,  and  fatigue. 
The  Americans  found  on  this  hill  water  barely  suffi- 
cient for  their  own  use,  and  were  obliged  to  exclude 
the  idea  of  sharing  it  with  their  animals.  Although 
within  sight  of  abundance  of  this  much-needed  article, 
yet  they  did  not  dare  to  drive  the  latter  to  it,  for  they 
were  too  weak  to  defend  them  from  the  assaults  of 
the  enemy. 


CARSON    AND    BEALE  99 

"  The  situation  of  General  Kearny's  force  was 
now  critical  in  the  extreme,  as,  besides  the  dangers 
that  surrounded  him,  the  men  were  reduced  to  living 
on  their  mules.  That  afternoon,  another  council  of 
war  was  called,  at  which  desperate  efforts  to  be  made 
for  immediate  relief  were  discussed.  When  every 
spark  of  hope  had  almost  died  within  them,  and  when 
they  were  in  a  dilemma  as  to  what  still  remained  for 
them  to  do,  Kit  Carson  .  . .  arose  and  said  he  was  willing 
to  make  the  attempt  of  creeping  through  the  Mexican 
lines.  Should  he  succeed,  he  pledged  his  word  that 
he  would  carry  information  to  Commodore  Stockton 
at  San  Diego,  and  thus  bring  them  succor.  No  sooner 
had  he  made  this  proposition  than  he  was  seconded  by 
Lieutenant  Beale,  then  of  the  United  States  Navy, 
who,  equally  as  brave  and  daring  as  Carson,  volun- 
teered his  services  in  the  undertaking. 


"  General  Kearny  at  once  accepted  the  noble  and 
generous  offers  of  these  two  men,  knowing  that  if  he 
waited  until  the  following  day  and  then  attempted  to 
leave  the  hill,  the  consequences  would  be  most  dis- 
astrous; for,  in  so  doing,  a  sanguinary  battle  must 
certainly  ensue,  with  the  chances  greatly  against  him. 
Having  made  the  few  preparations  necessary,  Kit 
Carson  and  Lieutenant  Beale  waited  the  setting  in  of 
night,  under  the  cover  of  which  they  had  both  resolved 
to  succeed  in  the  performance  of  their  mission  or  die 
in  the  attempt.  Having  got  well  under  way,  and  while 
stealthily  crawling  over  the  rocks  and  brush,  they  found 


ioo  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

their  shoes  would  often,  even  with  the  greatest  prevent- 
ative  care  being  taken,  strike  against  the  various  im- 
pediments to  their  progress  and  make  sounds  which 
might  lead  to  their  detection.  To  avoid  this  they  took 
them  off  and  pushed  them  under  their  belts.  Slowly, 
but  surely,  they  evaded  the  vigilant  guard  of  the  Mexi- 
can sentinels,  whom  they  found  to  be  mounted  and  three 
rows  deep,  evidently  being  determined  not  to  be  eluded. 
So  near  would  they  often  come  to  these  Mexican 
sentinels,  that  but  a  few  yards  would  measure  the 
distance  between  them  and  their  enemies,  yet,  with 
brave  hearts,  they  crept  along  over  the  ground  foot  by 
foot;  they  were  almost  safe  beyond  these  barriers, 
when  all  their  hopes  came  near  being  dashed  to  pieces. 
This  alarm  was  caused  by  one  of  the  sentinels  riding 
up  near  to  where  they  were,  dismounting  from  his 
horse  and  lighting,  by  his  flint  and  steel,  his  cigarette. 
On  seeing  this,  Kit  Carson,  who  was  just  ahead  of 
Lieutenant  Beale,  pushed  back  his  foot  and  kicked 
softly  his  companion,  as  a  signal  for  him  to  lie  flat 
on  the  ground  as  he  (Carson)  was  doing.  The  Mexican 
was  some  time,  being  apparently  very  much  at  his 
leisure,  in  lighting  his  cigarette;  and,  during  these 
moments  of  suspense,  so  quietly  did  Kit  Carson  and  his 
companion  lie  on  the  ground,  that  Carson  said,  and 
always  after  affirmed,  that  he  could  distinctly  hear 
Lieutenant  Beale's  heart  pulsate. 

"  Who  can  describe  the  agony  of  mind  to  which 
these  brave  hearts  were  subjected  during  this  severe 
trial  ?  Everything  —  the  lives  of  their  friends  as  well 
as  their  own  —  so  hung  on  chance,  that  they  shud- 


CARSON    AND    BE  ALE  101 

dered;  not  at  the  thought  of  dying,  but  for  fear  they 
would  fail  in  accomplishing  what  was  dearer  to  them 
than  life,  the  rescue  of  the  brave  men  whose  lives 
hung  on  their  success.  After  quite  a  long  time,  the 
Mexican,  as  if  guided  by  the  hand  of  Providence, 
mounted  his  horse  and  made  off  in  a  contrary  direc- 
tion from  the  one  where  these  bold  adventurers  were 
biding  their  time  to  accept  either  good,  if  possible,  or 
evil,  if  necessary,  from  the  wheel  of  Fortune.  For  a 
distance  of  about  two  miles,  Kit  Carson  and  Lieutenant 
Beale  thus  walked  along  on  their  hands  and  knees. 
Continually,  during  this  time,  Kit  Carson's  eagle 
eye  was  penetrating  through  the  darkness,  ever  on  the 
alert  to  discover  whatever  obstacle  might  present  itself 
on  which  was  stamped  the  least  appearance  of  danger. 
Having  passed  the  last  visible  image  in  the  shape  of  a 
sentinel  and  left  the  lines  behind  them  at  a  suitable 
distance,  both  men  regained  their  feet,  and  once  more 
breathed  freely.  Their  first  thought  was  to  look  for 
their  shoes,  but,  alas,  they  were  gone.  In  the  excite- 
ment of  the  journey,  they  had  not  given  them  a  thought 
since  depositing  them  beneath  their  belts.  Hardly  a 
word  had  hitherto  passed  between  these  two  compan- 
ions in  danger,  but  now  they  spoke  hurriedly  and  con- 
gratulated each  other  on  the  success  that  had  so  far 
attended  them,  and  thanked  God  in  their  hearts  that 
He  had  so  mercifully  aided  them.  There  was  no  time 
for  delay,  as  they  were  by  no  means  free  from  danger, 
though  they  thought  the  worst  was  over.  Kit  Carson 
was  familiar  with  the  country,  and  well  knew  the 
necessity  of  avoiding,  for  fear  of  being  discovered, 


102  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

all  the  well-trodden  trails  and  roads  which  lead  to  San 
Diego,  every  one  of  which  was  closely  watched  by  the 
enemy.  He  chose  a  circuitous  route,  over  rocks,  hills 
and  wild  lands.  The  soil  was  lined  with  the  prickly 
pear,  the  thorns  of  which  were  penetrating,  at  almost 
every  step,  deep  into  their  bare  feet,  which,  owing  to 
the  darkness  and  thickness  of  the  plants,  they  could 
not  avoid.  The  town  of  San  Diego  was  located  many 
miles  in  a  straight  line  from  the  point  from  whence  they 
had  started,  but,  by  the  roundabout  route  they  were 
obliged  to  travel,  this  distance  was  much  lengthened. 
All  the  following  day  they  continued  their  tramp  and 
made  as  much  progress  as  possible.  Their  mental 
excitement  kept  them  in  good  spirits,  though,  from 
previous  fatigue,  the  want  of  food  during  this  time, 
and  by  the  rapid  pace  at  which  they  were  traveling, 
they  were  putting  their  physical  powers  to  their  full 
test.  Another  night  closed  in  around  them,  yet  '  on- 
ward '  was  their  watchword,  for  they  thought  not  of 
rest  while  those  behind  them  were  in  such  imminent 
peril.  Kit  Carson's  only  compass  was  his  eye,  which 
served  him  so  well  that  soon  the  dark  outlines  of  the 
houses  of  San  Diego  could  just  be  discerned.  Both 
men  were  ready  to  leap  for  joy.  They  were  challenged 
by  the  American  sentinels  about  the  town,  and  an- 
swered in  pure  English,  '  Friends,'  which  same  English 
was  unmistakable  proof  to  the  guard  from  whence  they 
came.  On  stating  their  important  business,  they 
were  conducted  into  the  presence  of  Commodore 
Stockton,  to  whom  they  related  what  we  have  tried 
to  describe.  Commodore  Stockton,  with  his  usual 


CARSON    AND    BEALE  103 

promptitude,  immediately  detailed  a  command  of  about 
one  hundred  and  seventy  men  to  make  forced  marches 
in  order  to  reach  and  relieve  their  besieged  country- 
men. With  as  much  despatch  as  possible,  this  force  set 
out,  taking  with  them  a  heavy  piece  of  ordnance,  which, 
for  want  of  animals,  the  men  themselves  were  obliged 
to  draw,  by  attaching  ropes  to  it.  Kit  Carson  did  not 
return  with  them,  for  it  was  considered  that  he  had 
seen  service  enough  for  the  present;  besides,  his  feet 
were  badly  swollen  and  inflamed  from  the  rough  usage 
they  had  recently  been  obliged  to  submit  to.  He 
graphically  described  the  position  of  General  Kearny, 
so  that  the  relief  party  could  have  no  difficulty  in 
finding  him.  He  remained  to  recruit  in  San  Diego. 
.  .  .  Unused  then  to  such  hardships  and  mental  excite- 
ments on  land,  as  was  his  more  experienced  companion, 
Lieutenant  Beale,  from  the  trials  of  the  service  per- 
formed, became  partially  deranged;  and  for  treatment 
was  sent  on  board  the  frigate  Congress,  which  ship  lay 
in  the  harbor,  being  one  of  the  vessels  attached  to  the 
commodore's  fleet.  Two  long  years  elapsed  before 
the  gallant  lieutenant  fully  recovered  from  the  effects  of 
this  adventure,  which,  for  the  bravery  and  unselfishness 
evinced  in  its  planning,  and  the  boldness  with  which  it 
was  carried  out,  without  mentioning  the  good  results 
it  produced,  was  not  excelled  by  any  feat  performed 
during  the  Mexican  War." 


CHAPTER   XIV 

SAILOR   HEROES    OF   PIONEER   TIMES 

IN  the  days  of  '48  and  '49,  when  gold  seekers  were 
pouring  into  California  by  every  possible  route 
and  method,  many  came  by  sea.  There  were  no  float- 
ing palaces  then  upon  the  Pacific  Ocean,  whatever 
may  have  been  the  style  of  the  steamers  coursing  up 
and  down  the  Mississippi  River.  And  the  sailing 
vessels  that  rounded  Cape  Horn  were  often  the  victims 
of  storms  and  other  perils  that  not  only  endangered 
the  lives  of  the  voyagers,  but  often  destroyed  them. 

In  Dana's  Two  Years  before  the  Mast,  —  a  classic 
which  every  California  boy  and  girl  should  not  only 
read  but  possess  in  his  or  her  own  private  library  — 
are  some  vivid  pictures  of  perils  suffered  on  the  sea 
voyage  to  California.  When  Dana  returned  to  New 
England,  he  went  in  the  Alert,  and  on  September  21, 
1836,  he  arrived  in  Boston.  There  he  published  his 
book,  containing  his  diary  of  the  trip. 

In  1840,  under  another  captain,  W.  D.  Phelps,  the 
Alert  again  arrived  in  Monterey,  and  continued  to  sail 
back  and  forth  between  New  England  and  California, 
so  that,  when  Frdmont  arrived  and  needed  help, 
Phelps  was  able  to  render  it  in  a  most  effective  manner. 
Captain  Phelps  kept  a  diary,  in  several  manuscript 
volumes,  and  these  are  now  in  my  possession.  From 


SAILOR  HEROES  105 

them  I  extract  the  following  description  of  a  storm 
which  struck  the  Alert  near  Santa  Barbara.  It  is  a 
nautical  man's  description  of  an  experience  which 
was  often  visited  upon  the  pioneers,  and  which  demon- 
strates that  the  Pacific  Ocean  was  not  (and  is  not)  always 
as  pacific  as  is  its  name. 

"  At  4  P.  M.  tacked  ship  to  the  south  and  west.  At 
8  the  weather  looked  favorable  for  a  moderate 
night.  Tacked  inshore.  At  10,  perceiving  a  sudden 
and  considerable  fall  of  the  barometer,  wore  ship 
immediately  and  stood  off  shore,  carrying  all  possible 
sail  to  make  an  offing,  as  the  signs  of  a  coming  gale 
were  now  too  strong  to  be  neglected.  The  ship  was 
under  double  reef  topsails,  fore  and  main  courses,  top- 
mast staysail,  and  a  main  spencer.  At  a  quarter  past 
eleven  the  gale  was  fast  increasing,  the  sea  making 
a  breach  over  fore  and  aft  and  the  ship  straining  hard ; 
took  in  the  mainsail  as  it  was  impossible  to  carry  it 
any  longer.  As  heaving  the  ship  to  at  this  time  would 
cause  her  to  drift  dead  on  a  lee  shore  and  her  fate  (if  not 
that  of  all  hands)  would  be  sealed  before  morning,  I  de- 
termined that  the  remaining  sail  must  be  kept  on  her  until 
we  had  gathered  sufficient  offing  to  give  her  a  clear  drift, 
or  the  sails  and  spars  must  be  allowed  to  blow  away. 
At  a  quarter  before  midnight,  the  gale  was  very  severe, 
the  squalls  and  wind  so  violent  that  it  was  impossible 
to  look  to  windward.  The  ship  was  madly  driving  and 
plunging  into  a  frightful  sea,  but  still  making  good 
progress  from  the  land.  All  hands  were  stationed 
at  their  posts  to  act  as  occasion  required,  and  many  an 
inward  prayer  was  breathed  that  the  sails  and  spars 


io6  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

would  outlive  the  violence  of  the  gale,  or  at  least  until 
they  had  placed  us  in  a  safe  position.  They  performed 
their  duty  as  well  as  expected  but  not  so  well  as  hoped 
for.  A  few  minutes  before  twelve  the  fore  topsail 
yard  broke  in  the  middle,  and  while  securing  the  sail, 
which  was  also  split,  a  fearful  noise  of  tearing  accom- 
panied with  a  loud  report  as  of  a  gun  told  us  that  the 
main  topsail  had  also  taken  leave  of  the  yard. 

"  After  about  two  hours'  severe  toil  the  remnants 
of  the  two  topsails  were  secured,  and  the  broken  yard 
lashed  aloft;  the  mizzen  topsail  was  safely  furled. 
The  topmast  staysail  had  blown  to  fragments.  At 
this  time  (2  A.  M.)  the  gale  had  increased  to  such  a 
height  that  it  seemed  impossible  for  it  to  blow  harder. 
The  sea  also  was  tremendous.  Still  the  foresail  and 
and  main  spencer  held  on,  the  ship  rolling,  and  plung- 
ing and  drifting  dead  to  leeward.  We  had  done  all  that 
could  be  done  to  ensure  the  safety  of  the  ship,  and  now 
all  we  could  do  was  to  let  her  drift  and  anticipate  the 
fearful  result.  Part  of  the  crew  and  officers  were 
now  sent  below  to  secure  the  casks,  boxes,  etc.,  which 
had  broken  loose  and  were  in  commotion  under  deck, 
while  the  rest  were  looking  out  for  the  breakers  of  a 
lee  shore.  At  this  time  I  retired  to  the  cabin  to  deter- 
mine the  position  of  the  ship  with  regard  to  the  land, 
and  found  that  my  passengers  were  silently  and  with 
great  anxiety,  no  doubt,  preparing  themselves  for  the 
worst.  Ungrateful  indeed  was  the  task  of  setting  off 
the  ship's  place  on  the  chart  and  painful  the  discovery 
that  we  had  not  over  twenty  miles  drift  hi  the  direction 
we  were  now  rapidly  going.  I  knew  that  the  passengers 


SAILOR  HEROES  107 

were  anxiously  watching  my  every  look.  I  controlled 
my  feelings  as  much  as  possible,  but  dared  not  look  them 
in  the  face  lest  they  might  read  something  there  that 
would  not  add  to  their  comfort.  To  their  inquiries  of 
our  prospects,  I  could  only  say  that  we  must  hope  for  a 
favorable  change.  We  were  heading  S.  W.  and  with  the 
lee  way  and  variation  were  making  a  N.  W.  course. 
In  this  direction  and  at  the  distance  of  about  15  or  18 
miles  lay  Pt.  San  Pedro,  a  high  headland  with  dan- 
gerous rocks  near  it,  to  the  west  of  which  the  barred 
entrance  of  San  Francisco  denied  us  entrance  on  ac- 
count of  the  tremendous  sea  which  was  now  rolling 
over  it,  threatening  destruction  to  any  ship  that  should 
approach  it.  W.  N.  W.  of  us  were  the  rocky  islets  of 
the  Farallones  —  which  are  dangerous  to  approach 
even  in  fine  weather  —  and  should  we  fortunately  drift 
clear  of  these,  a  few  miles  further  we  must  bring  up 
on  the  ragged  headland  of  Punto-de-los  Reyes.  I 
returned  to  the  deck  after  recommending  ourselves 
to  the  protection  of  Him  who  alone  '  rides  on  the  tem- 
pest and  directs  the  storm,'  and  making  what  arrange- 
ments the  occasion  seemed  to  require,  as  calmly  as 
possible,  awaited  the  results,  expecting  to  hear  the 
dreadful  breakers  any  moment.  Until  that  appalling 
event  should  occur,  I  deferred  informing  the  crew 
of  their  situation.  But,  oh  the  intense  agony  of  feel- 
ing produced  by  a  dark  stormy  night  and  the  horrors 
of  a  lee  shore  —  none  can  know  like  him  on  whom 
rests  the  sole  responsibility  of  managing  the  ship 
in  which  are  many  precious  lives.  It  is  at  such  a  time 
that  a  single  night  will  do  the  work  of  years  in  a  man's 


io8  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

age.  At  6  A.  M.  the  day  broke,  but  the  gale  still  raged 
in  all  its  fury;  the  land  could  not  be  seen,  as  the  gloom 
was  thick  and  the  rain  descended  in  torrents.  Our 
first  object  was  to  get  down  the  fragments  of  the  main 
topsail  and  bend  a  new  one.  This  we  accomplished, 
and  at  8  o'clock  a  close-reefed  main  topsail  brought  the 
ship  more  head  to  the  sea,  and  relieved  her  very  much. 
After  the  refreshment  of  some  hot  coffee  and  a  slight 
breakfast  —  of  which  I  could  not  partake  —  we  again 
turned  to  and  sent  down  the  wreck  of  the  fore  topsail 
yard  and  sail,  and  as  all  this  work  had  to  be  done  in 
the  teeth  of  a  severe  gale,  it  occupied  us  until  noon. 

1  now  judged  that  it  was  impossible  to  be  more  than 

2  or  3   miles  from  the  land,  and  I  imagined  every 
moment  I  could  '  hear  the  warning  voice  of  the  lee  shore, 
speaking  in  breakers,'  when,  of  a  sudden,   we  were 
taken  hard  aback  by  the  westerly  wind,  blowing  off 
shore,  and  shortly  a  clear  sky  showed  us  that  we  were 
distant  from  the  breakers  about  ten  miles,  but  that 
the  direction  in  which  we  were  drifting  would  have 
enabled  us  to  keep  off  shore  about  1 2  hours  longer,  had 
the  gale  continued.    Thanks  to  a  merciful  and  prayer- 
hearing  God,  we  were  preserved  from  wreck,  and  in 
the  afternoon  got  up  a  new  topsail  yard,  bent  new  sails, 
and,  at  sunset,  when  the  sea  had  subsided,  bore  away 
with  fair  wind  and  an  unclouded  and  beautiful  evening, 
for  Monterey.     At  midnight  hove  to,  to  wait  for  day- 
light." 


CHAPTER   XV 

THE  RECKLESS  HERO   OF  INDIAN  FAME,  JAMES  P. 
BECKWOURTH 

HIGH  up  in  the  list  of  pioneer  scouts  must  be 
placed  the  name  and  fame  of  James  P.  Beck- 
wourth.  Of  reckless  daring  and  undaunted  courage, 
he  won  a  recognized  position  in  his  own  day  and  a 
fame  which  time  will  not  dim.  There  is  some  doubt 
as  to  his  birth,  but  it  is  sure  that  there  was  some  negro 
blood  in  his  veins,  and  this  gave  him  enough  of  an 
Indian  appearance  to  enable  him  —  whenever  he 
wished  to  do  so  —  to  pass  himself  off  as  an  Indian. 
The  extent  and  character  of  his  adventures  were  such 
that  many  people  have  been  inclined  to  doubt  them, 
but  Leland,  who  edited  an  English  edition  of  his  Life, 
says: 

"  My  own  honest  opinion  of  the  work  is  that  it  is 
true  in  the  main,  simply  because  it  was  impossible 
for  its  hero  to  have  lived  through  the  life  which  other 
sources  prove  that  he  experienced,  and  not  have  met 
with  quite  as  extraordinary  adventures  as  those  which 
he  describes.  Life  is,  even  to  this  day  (1891),  as  excit- 
ing and  as  full  of  peril  in  some  parts  of  America  as  is 
possible,"  and  he  tells  a  story  which  was  given  to  him 
by  a  reliable  eye  witness,  which  Beckwourth  had  not 
related  in  his  memoirs.  The  story  is  as  follows: 


no  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

"  I  do  not  think  that  Beckwourth  was  ever  head  chief 
among  the  Crow  Indians,  though  I  dare  say  he  made 
himself  out  to  be  such;  but  that  he  was  really  a  sub-chief 
is  true,  for  I  myself  was  on  the  ground  when  they  made 
him  one  —  and  a  strange  sight  it  was.  Beckwourth 
was  a  very  powerful  man  —  he  had  been  a  blacksmith 
—  and  he  certainly  was  a  desperately  brave  fighter. 

"  A  very  large  grizzly  bear  had  been  driven  into 
a  cave,  and  Beckwourth  asked  of  a  great  number  of 
Crows  who  were  present  whether  any  of  them  would 
go  in  and  kill  the  creature.  All  declined,  for  it  seemed 
to  be  certain  death.  Then  Beckwourth  stripped  him- 
self naked,  and  wrapping  a  Mexican  blanket  around 
his  left  arm,  and  holding  a  strong,  sharp  knife,  he  en- 
tered the  cave,  and  after  a  desperate  fight,  killed  the 
bear.  I  came  up  to  the  place  in  time  to  see  Beckwourth 
come  out  of  the  cave,  all  torn  and  bleeding.  He  looked 
like  an  evil  demon  if  ever  man  did.  The  Crows  were 
so  much  pleased  at  this  that  he  was  declared  a  sub- 
chief  on  the  spot." 

Beckwourth  was  born  in  Fredericksburg,  Virginia, 
in  1798.  In  1854-1855  T.  D.  Bonner  —  a  wanderer 
in  the  mountains  of  California  —  found  him  there, 
became  interested  in  his  story  and  wrote  it.  In  his 
preface  Bonner  says: 

"  After  ten  thousand  adventures,  Beckwourth  finally 
became  involved  in  the  human  stream  that  set  toward 
the  Pacific,  and,  almost  unconsciously,  he  established 
a  home  in  one  of  the  pleasant  valleys  that  border  on 
Feather  River.  Discovering  a  pass  in  the  mountains 
—  now  incorrectly  known  as  Beckwith  Pass  —  that  fa- 


JAMES    P.    BECKWOURTH  in 

cilitated  emigrants  in  reaching  California,  his  house 
became  a  stopping-place  for  the  weary  and  dispirited 
among  them,  and  no  doubt  the  associations  thus  pre- 
sented have  done  much  to  efface  his  natural  disposition 
to  wander  and  seek  excitement  among  the  Indian 
tribes." 

I  have  heard  Miss  Ina  Coolbrith,  the  poet,  tell  the 
story  of  the  meeting  between  the  party  in  which  were  her 
father  and  his  family  (herself  of  the  number),  and  Beck- 
wourth.  The  party  had  traveled  for  months  over  the 
plains  and  now,  tattered  in  garments,  wearied  in  body, 
harassed  in  mind,  sun-burned  and  weather-beaten, 
they  had  reached  the  place  where  the  plains  ended  and 
the  steep  mountain  chain  of  the  Sierra's  towered  before 
them.  Indians  were  dogging  their  footsteps,  and  the 
little  girl,  supposed  to  be  asleep  in  the  wagon,  heard 
the  men  talking  of  the  possibility  of  attack;  and  there, 
wide-eyed  and  full  of  alarm  at  danger,  the  full  extent 
of  which  she  did  not  begin  to  comprehend,  she  lay  and 
trembled,  watching  such  shadows  as  were  cast  and 
imagining  them  the  outward  signs  of  the  horrors  she 
felt  within.  Then  Beckwourth  came  to  their  relief. 
He  offered  to  guide  the  party  through  his  recently 
discovered  pass  to  Spanish  Ranch  in  Plumas  County. 
Well  does  she  remember  his  coming.  Like  a  picture 
that  one  is  not  sure  one  has  seen  or  only  dreamed  of, 
he  appears  to  her  mental  vision  now.  A  dark-faced 
man,  something  like  a  mulatto,  with  long,  braided 
hair  reaching  down  to  his  shoulders,  dressed  in  beaded 
buckskin,  with  moccasins  on  his  feet,  and  no  hat  upon 
his  head,  he  rode  into  the  camp.  His  horse  was  half- 


ii2  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

saddled,  as  Indians  used  to  ride  in  that  day.  His  voice 
was  strong  and  masterful  but  pleasant  to  the  ears  of 
the  child,  for,  as  soon  as  he  saw  there  were  children 
in  the  train,  he  took  sweetmeats  from  his  pockets  and 
a  bag  he  had  on  his  saddle,  and  began  to  distribute 
them,  saying  words  that  cheered  the  youngsters  and 
made  his  appearance  and  dress  only  the  peculiarities 
of  a  hero.  When  he  saw  Ina  and  her  two  little  brothers, 
the  boys  in  their  short  dresses,  tears  came  into  his  eyes 
and  he  said,  "  God!  they're  the  sweetest  things  in 
life."  Then  he  began  to  talk  to  Mrs.  Pickett  (Miss  Cool- 
brith's  mother)  of  the  great  attraction  children  were  to 
him.  What  a  romantic  figure  he  made  riding  ahead 
and  leading  the  train,  and  how  happy  the  little  Ina  felt 
to  have  him  by  and  by  come  back  to  her  father's  wagon, 
reach  over  and  lift  her  up  to  a  place  in  front  of  him  on 
his  saddle,  and  then  go  on  again  to  the  front. 

No  romance  can  be  more  interesting  than  the  record 
of  Beckwourth's  life  on  the  border  in  the  early  day,  and 
it  belongs  peculiarly  to  young  Californians  to  read 
and  enjoy  it.  Of  all  Beckwourth's  early  adventures, 
I  have  no  room  here  to  speak.  He  was  once  paid  an 
annual  salary  by  the  United  States  government  (it  is 
said  two  thousand  dollars)  to  keep  the  Crow  tribe 
from  molesting  the  whites  who  were  crossing  the  plains. 
Several  times  he  was  on  the  United  States  pay-roll  as 
a  scout.  For  a  time  he  was  an  Indian  trader.  He  was 
about  fifty  years  old  when  he  reached  California  and 
settled  down.  The  following  is  a  part  of  his  story: 

"  I  was  now  inactive  for  some  time  again,  and  occu- 
pied my  leisure  in  rambling  about  the  environs  of 

\ 


CONNER    LAKE,    CALIFORNIA. 


Page  60 


U.  S.  Geological  Surrey,   IV.  C.   Mcndenhall,  Photo. 

GENERAL    VIEW   OF   THE    COLORADO    DESERT. 


z 
P 


JAMES    P.    BECKWOURTH  113 

Monterey.  I  then  engaged  in  the  service  of  the  com- 
missariat at  Monterey,  to  carry  despatches  from  thence 
to  Captain  Denney's  ranch,  where  I  was  met  by  another 
carrier.  On  my  road  lay  the  mission  of  San  Miguel, 
owned  by  a  Mr.  Reed,  an  Englishman;  and,  as  his 
family  was  a  very  interesting  one,  I  generally  made  his 
home  my  resting-place.  On  one  of  my  visits,  arriving 
about  dusk,  I  entered  the  house  as  usual,  but  was 
surprised  to  see  no  one  stirring.  I  walked  about  a  little 
to  attract  attention,  and  no  one  coming  to  me,  I  stepped 
into  the  kitchen  to  look  for  some  of  the  inmates.  On 
the  floor  I  saw  some  one  lying  down,  asleep,  as  I  sup- 
posed. I  attempted  to  arouse  him  with  my  foot,  but  he 
did  not  stir.  This  seemed  strange,  and  my  apprehen- 
sions became  excited;  for  the  Indians  were  very 
numerous  about,  and  I  was  afraid  some  mischief  had 
been  done.  I  returned  to  my  horse  for  my  pistols, 
then,  lighting  a  candle,  I  commenced  a  search.  In 
going  along  a  passage,  I  stumbled  over  the  body  of  a 
woman;  I  entered  a  room,  and  found  another,  a  mur- 
dered Indian  woman,  who  had  been  a  domestic.  I  was 
about  to  enter  another  room,  but  I  was  arrested  by  some 
sudden  thought  which  urged  me  to  search  no  farther. 
It  was  an  opportune  admonition,  for  that  very  room 
contained  the  murderers  of  the  family,  who  had  heard 
my  steps,  and  were  sitting  at  that  moment  with  their 
pistols  pointed  to  the  door,  ready  to  shoot  the  first 
person  who  entered.  This  they  confessed  subsequently. 
"  Thinking  to  obtain  farther  assistance,  I  mounted 
my  horse  and  rode  to  the  nearest  ranch,  a  distance  of 
twenty-four  miles,  where  I  procured  fifteen  Mexicans 


n4  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

and  Indians,  and  returned  with  them  the  same  night  to 
the  scene  of  the  tragedy.  On  again  entering  the  house, 
we  found  eleven  bodies  all  thrown  together  in  one  pile 
for  the  purpose  of  consuming  them;  for,  on  searching 
further,  we  found  the  murderers  had  set  fire  to  the 
dwelling;  but,  according  to  that  Providence  which  ex- 
poses such  wicked  deeds,  the  fire  had  died  out. 

"  Fastening  up  the  house,  we  returned  immediately 
back  to  the  ranch  from  which  I  had  started  with  my 
party,  making  seventy-two  miles  I  rode  that  night. 
As  soon  as  I  could  obtain  some  rest,  I  started,  in  com- 
pany with  the  alcalde,  for  San  Luis  Obispo,  where,  it  was 
believed,  we  could  get  assistance  in  capturing  the  mur- 
derers. Forty  men  hi  detached  parties,  moving  hi  dif- 
ferent directions,  went  in  pursuit.  It  was  my  fortune 
to  find  the  trail,  and  with  my  party  of  six  men  I  man- 
aged to  head  off  the  suspected  murderers  so  as  to  come 
up  with  them  in  the  road  from  directly  the  opposite 
direction  from  Reed's.  When  I  came  opposite,  one  of 
the  men  sang  out,  '  Good  day,  senors.'  I  replied,  but 
kept  on  riding  in  a  lope. 

"  The  bandits,  thrown  entirely  off  their  guard, 
insisted  upon  entering  into  conversation;  so  I  had  a 
fair  opportunity  of  marking  them  all,  and  discovering 
among  them  a  horse  belonging  to  the  unfortunate 
Reed.  I  then  rode  to  Santa  Barbara,  a  distance  of 
forty  miles,  and,  with  a  party  of  twenty  men,  started 
boldly  hi  pursuit.  After  much  hard  travel,  we  finally 
came  upon  the  gang,  encamped  for  the  night.  Without 
a  moment's  hesitation,  we  charged  on  them,  and  gave 
a  volley  of  rifles,  which  killed  one,  and  wounded  all 


JAMES    P.    BECKWOURTH  115 

the  others,  save  an  American,  named  Dempsey.  The 
villains  fought  like  tigers,  but  were  finally  mastered 
and  made  prisoners. 

"  Dempsey  turned  State's  evidence.  He  stated  that, 
on  the  night  of  the  murder,  his  party  stopped  at  Reed's  ; 
that  Reed  told  them  that  he  had  just  returned  from 
the  mines,  whereupon  it  was  determined  to  kill  the 
whole  family  and  take  his  gold,  which  turned  out  to 
be  the  pitiful  sum  of  one  thousand  dollars.  After  the 
confession  of  Dempsey,  we  shot  the  murderers,  along 
with  the  '  State's  evidence,'  and  thus  ended  the  lives 
of  fourteen  villains,  who  had  committed  the  most 
diabolical  deed  that  ever  disgraced  the  annals  of 
frontier  life." 

For  four  months  he  engaged  in  this  messenger 
service  and  then  traded  in  the  mines  at  Sonora  for 
awhile,  then  in  Sacramento,  and  finally  proceeded  to 
Greenwood  Valley,  in  the  Sierras,  to  establish  his 
winter  quarters.  Unfortunately,  he  was  seized  with 
rheumatism,  and  this  gave  him  a  great  deal  of  trouble 
that  winter;  yet  it  did  not  diminish  his  love  of  adven- 
ture, as  the  following  story  proves: 

"  Before  I  was  able  to  get  about,  I  was  called  on  by 
the  inhabitants  to  go  several  miles  to  shoot  a  grizzly 
bear,  and  as  I  was  unable  to  walk  the  distance,  several 
of  them  volunteered  to  carry  me.  The  bear  was  in  the 
habit  of  walking  past  a  row  of  cabins  every  morning 
on  his  return  to  his  den,  he  having  issued  forth  the 
preceding  night  to  procure  his  evening  meal.  They 
had  fired  several  shots  at  Bruin  as  he  passed,  but  he 
had  never  deigned  to  pay  any  attention  to  the  molesta- 


u6  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

tion.  I  mounted  a  horse,  and  rode  some  distance  along 
his  customary  path,  until  I  came  to  a  tree  which  offered 
a  fair  shelter,  to  await  his  approach.  I  placed  my 
back  against  it  as  a  support  while  I  awaited  his  coming, 
the  neighbors  drawing  off  to  a  safe  distance  to  witness 
the  sport.  By  and  by  grizzly  came  in  sight,  walking 
along  as  independently  as  an  alderman-elect.  I  allowed 
him  to  approach  till  he  was  within  twenty  paces, 
when  I  called  out  to  him;  he  stopped  suddenly,  and 
looked  around  to  ascertain  whence  the  sound  pro- 
ceeded. As  he  arrested  himself,  I  fired,  and  the  ball 
entered  his  heart.  He  advanced  ten  or  fifteen  paces 
before  he  fell;  the  observers  shouted  to  me  to  run, 
they  forgetting  hi  their  excitement  that  I  had  not 
strength  to  move.  The  bear  never  stirred  from  where 
he  fell,  and  he  expired  without  a  groan.  When  dressed, 
he  weighed  over  fourteen  hundred  pounds." 

After  recounting,  with  many  details,  one  of  his 
experiences  in  trading  with  a  demoralized  band  of 
Indians,  he  concludes: 

"  This  trading  whisky  for  Indian  property  is  one 
of  the  most  infernal  practices  ever  entered  into  by  man. 
Let  the  reader  sit  down  and  figure  up  the  profits  on  a 
forty-gallon  cask  of  alcohol,  and  he  will  be  thunder- 
struck, or  rather  whisky-struck.  When  disposed  of, 
four  gallons  of  water  are  added  to  each  gallon  of  al- 
cohol. In  two  hundred  gallons  there  are  sixteen  hun- 
dred pints,  for  each  one  of  which  the  trader  gets  a 
buffalo  robe  worth  five  dollars!  The  Indian  women 
toil  many  long  weeks  to  dress  these  sixteen  hundred 
robes.  The  white  trader  gets  them  all  for  worse  than 


JAMES    P.    BECKWOURTH  117 

nothing,  for  the  poor  Indian  mother  hides  herself  and 
her  children  in  the  forests  until  the  effect  of  the  poison 
passes  away  from  the  husbands,  fathers,  and  brothers, 
who  love  them  when  they  have  no  whisky,  and  abuse 
and  kill  them  when  they  have.  Six  thousand  dollars 
for  sixty  gallons  of  alcohol.  Is  it  a  wonder  that,  with 
such  profits  in  prospect,  men  get  rich  who  are  engaged 
in  the  fur  trade?  Or  is  it  a  miracle  that  the  poor 
buffalo  are  becoming  gradually  exterminated,  being 
killed  with  so  little  remorse  that  their  very  hides, 
among  the  Indians  themselves,  are  known  by  the  ap- 
pellation of  a  pint  of  whisky?  " 

As  a  matter  of  record,  it  is  well  to  preserve  Beck- 
wourth's  own  account  of  the  discovery  and  history 
of  the  pass  that  bears  his  name.  He  was  going  from 
American  Valley  up  to  the  home  of  the  Pitt  River 
Indians  at  the  time.  Says  he: 

"  While  on  this  excursion,  I  discovered  what  is  now 
known  as  '  Beckwourth's  Pass  '  in  the  Sierra  Nevada.1 
From  some  of  the  elevations  over  which  we  passed 
I  remarked  a  place  far  away  to  the  southward  that 
seemed  lower  than  any  other.  I  made  no  mention  of 
it  to  my  companion,  but  thought  that  at  some  future 
time  I  would  examine  into  it  farther.  I  continued  on 
to  Shasta  with  my  fellow-traveler,  and  returned  after 
a  fruitless  journey  of  eighteen  days. 

"  After  a  short  stay  in  the  American  Valley,  I  again 
started  out  with  a  prospecting  party  of  twelve  men. 
We  killed  a  bullock  before  starting  and  dried  the  meat, 
in  order  to  have  provisions  to  last  us  during  the  trip. 

1  It  is  marked  on  the  maps  and  locally  known  as  Beckwith's  Pass. 


n8  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

We  proceeded  in  an  easterly  direction,  and  all  busied 
themselves  in  searching  for  gold;  but  my  errand  was 
of  a  different  character;  I  had  come  to  discover  what  I 
suspected  to  be  a  pass. 

"  It  was  the  latter  end  of  April  when  we  entered 
upon  an  extensive  valley  at  the  northwest  extremity 
of  the  Sierra  Range.  The  valley  was  already  robed 
hi  freshest  verdure,  contrasting  most  delightfully  with 
the  huge  snow-clad  masses  of  rock  we  had  just  left. 
Rowers  of  every  variety  and  hue  spread  their  variegated 
charms  before  us;  magpies  were  chattering,  and  gor- 
geously-plumaged  birds  were  carolling  in  the  delights 
of  unmolested  solitude.  Swarms  of  wild  geese  and 
ducks  were  swimming  on  the  surface  of  the  cool, 
crystal  stream,  which  was  the  central  fork  of  the  Rio 
de  las  Plumas,  or  sailed  the  air  in  clouds  over  our  heads. 
Deer  and  antelope  filled  the  plains,  and  their  boldness 
was  conclusive  that  the  hunter's  rifle  was  to  them 
unknown.  Nowhere  visible  were  any  traces  of  the 
white  man's  approach,  and  it  is  probable  that  our  steps 
were  the  first  that  ever  marked  the  spot.  We  struck 
across  this  beautiful  valley  to  the  waters  of  the  Yuba, 
from  thence  to  the  waters  of  the  Truchy  (Truckee), 
which  latter  flowed  in  an  easterly  direction,  telling 
us  we  were  on  the  eastern  slope  of  the  mountain  range. 
This,  I  at  once  saw,  would  afford  the  best  wagon-road 
into  the  American  Valley  approaching  from  the  east- 
ward, and  I  imparted  my  views  to  three  of  my  com- 
panions in  whose  judgment  I  placed  the  most  confidence. 
They  thought  highly  of  the  discovery,  and  even  proposed 
to  associate  with  me  in  opening  the  road.  We  also 


JAMES    P.    BECKWOURTH  119 

found  gold,  but  not  in  sufficient  quantity  to  warrant 
our  working  it;  and,  furthermore,  the  ground  was  too 
wet  to  admit  of  our  prospecting  to  any  advantage. 

"  On  my  return  to  the  American  Valley,  I  made 
known  my  discovery  to  a  Mr.  Turner,  proprietor  of 
the  American  Ranch,  who  entered  enthusiastically 
into  my  views;  it  was  a  thing,  he  said,  he  had  never 
dreamed  of  before.  If  I  could  but  carry  out  my  plan, 
and  divert  travel  into  that  road,  he  thought  I  should 
be  a  made  man  for  life.  Thereupon  he  drew  up  a 
subscription  list,  setting  forth  the  merits  of  the 
project,  and  showing  how  the  road  could  be  made 
practicable  to  Bidwell's  Bar,  and  thence  to  Marysville, 
which  latter  place  would  derive  peculiar  advantages 
from  the  discovery.  He  headed  the  subscription  with 
two  hundred  dollars. 

"  When  I  reached  Bidwell's  Bar  and  unfolded  my 
project,  the  town  was  seized  with  a  perfect  mania  for 
the  opening  of  the  route.  The  subscriptions  toward 
the  fund  required  for  its  accomplishment  amounted  to 
five  hundred  dollars.  I  then  proceeded  to  Marysville, 
a  place  which  would  unquestionably  derive  greater 
benefit  from  the  newly-discovered  route  than  any  other 
place  on  the  way,  since  this  must  be  the  entrepot  or  prin- 
cipal starting-place  for  emigrants.  I  communicated 
with  several  of  the  most  influential  residents  on  the 
subject  in  hand.  They  also  spoke  very  encouragingly 
of  my  undertaking,  and  referred  me  before  all  others 
to  the  mayor  of  the  city.  Accordingly,  I  waited  upon 
that  gentleman  (a  Mr.  Miles),  and  brought  the  matter 
under  his  notice,  representing  it  as  being  a  legitimate 


120  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

matter  for  his  interference,  and  offering  substantial 
advantages  to  the  commercial  prosperity  of  the  city. 
The  mayor  entered  warmly  into  my  views,  and  pro- 
nounced it  as  his  opinion  that  the  profits  resulting 
from  the  speculation  could  not  be  less  than  from  six  to 
ten  thousand  dollars;  and  as  the  benefits  accruing 
to  the  city  would  be  incalculable,  he  would  ensure  my 
expenses  while  engaged  upon  it. 

"  I  mentioned  that  I  should  prefer  some  guarantee 
before  entering  upon  my  labors,  to  secure  me  against 
loss  of  what  money  I  might  lay  out. 

"  '  Leave  that  to  me,'  said  the  mayor;  '  I  will  attend 
to  the  whole  affair.  I  feel  confident  that  a  subject 
of  so  great  importance  to  our  interests  will  engage  the 
earliest  attention.' 

"  I  thereupon  left  the  whole  proceeding  in  his  hands, 
and,  immediately  setting  men  to  work  upon  the  road, 
went  out  to  Truckee  to  turn  emigration  into  my  newly- 
discovered  route.  While  thus  busily  engaged  I  was 
seized  with  erysipelas,  and  abandoned  all  hopes  of 
recovery;  I  was  over  one  hundred  miles  away  from 
medical  assistance,  and  my  only  shelter  was  a  brush 
tent.  I  made  my  will,  and  resigned  myself  to  death. 
Life  still  lingered  in  me,  however,  and  a  train  of  wagons 
came  up,  and  encamped  near  to  where  I  lay.  I  was 
reduced  to  a  very  low  condition,  but  I  saw  the  drivers, 
and  acquainted  them  with  the  object  that  had  brought 
me  out  there.  They  offered  to  attempt  the  new  road 
if  I  thought  myself  sufficiently  strong  to  guide  them 
through  it.  The  women,  God  bless  them!  came  to 
my  assistance,  and  through  their  kind  attentions  and 


JAMES    P.    BECKWOURTH  121 

excellent  nursing  I  rapidly  recovered  from  my  linger- 
ing sickness,  until  I  was  soon  able  to  mount  my  horse, 
and  lead  the  first  train,  consisting  of  seventeen  wagons, 
through  '  Beckwourth's  Pass.'  We  reached  the  American 
Valley  without  the  least  accident,  and  the  emigrants 
expressed  entire  satisfaction  with  the  route.  I  returned 
with  the  train  through  Marysville,  and  on  the  intelli- 
gence being  communicated  of  the  practicability  of  my 
road,  there  was  quite  a  public  rejoicing.  A  northern 
route  had  been  discovered,  and  the  city  had  received 
an  impetus  that  would  advance  her  beyond  all  her  sisters 
on  the  Pacific  shore.  I  felt  proud  of  my  achievement, 
and  was  foolish  enough  to  promise  myself  a  substantial 
recognition  of  my  labors. 

"  I  was  destined  to  disappointment,  for  that  same 
night  Marysville  was  laid  in  ashes.  The  mayor  of 
the  ruined  town  congratulated  me  upon  bringing  a 
train  through.  He  regretted  that  their  recent  calamity 
had  placed  it  entirely  beyond  his  power  to  obtain  for 
me  any  substantial  reward.  With  the  exception  of 
some  two  hundred  dollars  subscribed  by  some  liberal- 
minded  citizens  of  Marysville,  I  have  received  no 
indemnification  for  the  money  and  labor  I  have  ex- 
pended upon  my  discovery.  The  city  has  been  greatly 
benefited  by  it,  as  all  must  acknowledge,  for  the  emi- 
grants that  now  flock  to  Marysville  would  otherwise 
have  gone  to  Sacramento.  Sixteen  hundred  dollars 
I  expended  upon  the  road  is  forever  gone,  but  those 
who  derive  advantage  from  this  outlay  and  loss  of  time 
devote  no  thought  to  the  discoverer;  nor  do  I  see 
clearly  how  I  am  to  help  myself,  for  every  one  knows 


122  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

I  cannot  roll  a  mountain  into  the  pass  and  shut  it  up. 
But  there  is  one  thing  certain:  although  I  recognize 
no  superior  in  love  of  country,  and  feel  in  all  its  force 
the  obligation  imposed  upon  me  to  advance  her  inter- 
ests, still,  when  I  go  out  hunting  in  the  mountains  a 
road  for  everybody  to  pass  through,  and  expending  my 
time  and  capital  upon  an  object  from  which  I  shall 
derive  no  benefit,  it  will  be  because  I  have  nothing 
better  to  do. 

"  In  the  spring  of  1852  I  established  myself  in 
Beckwourth  Valley,  and  finally  found  myself  trans- 
formed into  a  hotel-keeper  and  chief  of  a  trading-post. 
My  house  is  considered  the  emigrant's  landing-place, 
as  it  is  the  first  ranch  he  arrives  at  in  the  Golden  State, 
and  is  the  only  house  between  this  point  and  Salt  Lake. 
Here  is  a  valley  t.wo  hundred  and  forty  miles  in  circum- 
ference, containing  some  of  the  choicest  land  in  the 
world.  Its  yield  of  hay  is  incalculable;  the  red  and 
white  clovers  spring  up  spontaneously,  and  the  grass 
that  covers  its  smooth  surface  is  of  the  most  nutritious 
nature.  When  the  weary,  toil-worn  emigrant  reaches 
this  valley,  he  feels  himself  secure;  he  can  lay  himself 
down  and  taste  refreshing  repose,  undisturbed  by  the 
fear  of  Indians.  His  cattle  can  graze  around  him  in 
pasture  up  to  their  eyes,  without  running  any  danger 
of  being  driven  off  by  the  Arabs  of  the  forest,  and  springs 
flow  before  them  as  pure  as  any  that  refresh  this  ver- 
dant earth." 

Since  this  chapter  was  written  I  note  that  the  Western  Pacific 
Railway  is  built  through  the  pass  discovered  by  Beckwourth,  and  that 
the  officials  of  that  railway,  with  wise  and  enlightened  desire  to  pre- 
serve historic  accuracy,  are  denoting  it  as  Beckwourth,  instead  of 
Beckwith,  on  their  maps  and  literature. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

THE  DARING  HEROES  OF  THE  PONY  EXPRESS  AND  THE 
OVERLAND  STAGE 

'  •  '•HIS  is  not  so  much  the  recital  of  individualistic 
-**  exploits  of  heroism  and  bravery,  as  of  collective 
acts  of  great  daring  and  courage,  in  which  extraordinary 
heroism  was  the  daily  experience  of  all  the  active 
participants.  No  man  could  ever  have  engaged  in 
the  work  of  the  old  overland  stage,  or  the  pony  express, 
unless  he  were  at  least  physically  brave.  And,  when 
one  comes  to  analyze  acts,  or  especially  a  life,  of  physical 
bravery,  it  is  sometimes  hard  to  draw  the  line  and  say 
where  that  ends  and  moral  heroism  begins. 

To  fully  realize  these  preliminary  words,  it  is  but 
necessary  to  recall  the  conditions  under  which  the  over- 
land stage  was  started  and  the  circumstances  that  sur- 
rounded its  daily  operation.  California  was  seized 
for  the  Union  by  Commodore  Sloat,  on  Tuesday, 
July  7,  1846.  Gold  was  discovered  by  Marshall  in 
January,  1848.  The  news  speedily  reached  Salt  Lake 
by  means  of  the  Mormons,  and  Oregon  by  way  of 
Honolulu,  and  immediately  an  influx  of  gold- seekers 
began.  But  it  was  not  until  the  end  of  the  year 
that  the  East  fully  awoke  to  the  importance  of  the 
discovery.  There  were  no  rapid  means  of  communica- 
tion, —  no  regular  methods  of  any  kind.  The  con- 


124  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

vention  called  by  General  Riley  to  frame  a  civil  con- 
stitution for  the  new  State  convened  on  September  3, 
1849,  and  on  October  13  the  work  was  accomplished 
and  the  constitution  signed.  The  first  election  took 
place  November  13,  when  Peter  H.  Burnett  was 
elected  first  governor,  and  the  constitution  was  ratified 
by  a  vote  of  twelve  thousand  and  sixty-four  against 
eight  hundred  and  eleven.  Burnett  was  installed  on 
November  20 ,  and  on  December  1 5  the  State  legislature 
met  at  San  Jose*  and  elected  Fre'mont  and  Gwin  United 
States  Senators. 

Here,  then,  was  a  State  practically  three  thousand 
miles  away  from  the  seat  of  federal  government,  and 
without  means  of  speedy  communication  between  them, 
save  by  special  despatch  at  enormous  expense.  The 
mail  was  carried  via  Panama  and  came  once  a  month. 
In  1851  this  was  extended  to  twice  a  month,  at  a  cost 
of  between  seven  hundred  thousand  and  eight  hundred 
thousand  dollars  a  year.  This  state  of  affairs  continued 
until  1858,  when  the  Butterfield  route  from  San  Fran- 
cisco to  St.  Louis  was  established  via  Los  Angeles, 
Yuma,  Tucson,  and  over  New  Mexico,  Texas  and 
Arkansas.  Nothing,  however,  was  gained  in  time  by 
this  change,  for  it  required  about  as  long  as  to  come 
by  the  steamers.  The  fastest  time  made  at  this  period 
from  San  Francisco  to  New  York  was  twenty-one  days. 
The  only  advantage  was  that  the  overland  stage  went 
twice  a  week,  whereas  the  steamers  sailed  only  twice  a 
month. 

At  this  time  (1858)  Messrs.  Russell,  Majors  and 
Waddell  were  running  a  daily  stage  between  St.  Joseph, 


HEROES   OF  PONY  EXPRESS        125 

Missouri  (then  the  terminus  of  the  railway  lines)  and 
Salt  Lake  City,  as  well  as  transporting  large  quantities 
of  government  stores  by  freight  wagons  over  the  same 
line.  This  route  for  some  time  had  engaged  the  atten- 
tion of  Senator  Gwin.  He  realized  how  much  shorter  it 
was  than  the  Butterneld  route,  but  every  attempt  to  get 
his  colleagues  in  the  United  States  Senate  to  consider 
the  construction  of  such  a  route,  by  subsidy  or  other- 
wise, was  met  with  their  assurances  that  such  a  route 
was  not  feasible  during  a  large  part  of  the  year.  The 
Sierran  barrier,  they  urged,  would  effectually  prevent 
any  regular  stage  from  running,  even  were  a  road  con- 
structed, and  therefore  it  was  a  waste  of  time  to  con- 
sider such  a  project.  Senator  Gwin,  however,  was  not 
so  easily  daunted,  and  in  1859,  meeting  Mr.  Russell 
in  Washington,  he  used  his  most  eloquent  endeavors  to 
persuade  him  to  start  such  a  line.  He  assured  the 
stage  man  that  if  he  would  demonstrate  its  feasibility 
he  would  guarantee  a  large  subsidy  for  carrying  the 
mail  that  would  more  than  indemnify  his  firm  for  the 
large  outlay,  but  that  it  was  useless  to  ask  his  colleagues 
for  their  vote  for  a  subsidy  until  the  route  had  actually 
been  opened  and  operated  during  the  winter  months. 
Enthusiastic  over  the  idea,  Mr.  Russell  came  west 
to  confer  with  his  partners.  On  looking  at  it  from  the 
purely  commercial  standpoint,  these  practical  men 
threw  cold  water  upon  the  scheme,  but  when  Russell 
urged  it  afresh,  on  the  ground  of  its  national  importance, 
the  benefit  it  would  be  to  the  northern  States  in  case 
of  any  conflict  with  the  South,  and  further,  because  it 
would  gain  them  an  influential  friend  in  Senator  Gwin, 


126  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

they  finally  decided  to  accede  to  his  wishes  and  go 
ahead. 

Accordingly,  five  hundred  of  the  fleetest  horses  of  the 
country  were  purchased,  and  the  services  of  over  two 
hundred  competent  men  secured,  eighty  of  whom  were 
chosen,  because  of  their  slimness,  as  riders.  The 
lighter  the  man  the  better  for  the  horse,  as  in  some 
portions  of  the  route  the  scheduled  time  required 
a  speed  of  twenty  miles  an  hour. 

The  stage  company  already  had  stage  stations  some 
ten  to  twelve  miles  apart,  located  between  St.  Joseph 
and  Salt  Lake  City,  but  an  entirely  new  set  of  stations 
had  to  be  built  between  Salt  Lake  City  and  Sacra- 
mento. These .  were  located  at  a  distance  of  about 
seventy-five  miles  apart,  and  through  a  country  that 
none  but  heroes  would  have  engaged  to  work  in.  It 
was  infested  with  wild  animals,  hostile  Indians,  and 
occasionally  with  abandoned  whites,  who  were  more 
cruel  and  bloodthirsty  than  either.  It  was  wild  and 
desert  country,  totally  uninhabited,  except  for  the  roving 
Indians  and  desperadoes,  who  valued  human  life  less  than 
they  valued  that  of  a  buffalo  or  an  antelope.  In  the  sum- 
mer, the  hot,  dusty,  alkali  plains  were  as  dangerous  and 
trying  as  were  the  rocky  Sierras,  deeply  covered  with 
snow,  in  the  winter.  None  but  brave  men,  experienced 
scouts,  Indian  fighters,  plainsmen,  inured  to  hardship 
and  ready  for  any  adventure,  would  have  dared  under- 
take the  work.  They  were  paid  one  hundred  and 
twenty  to  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  dollars  a  month 
for  their  services,  and  were  engaged  because  of  their 
vigilance,  bravery,  agility  and  determination  to  "  get 


A  BUCKING  HORSE  IN  THE  HEART  OF  THE  COLORADO  DESERT. 


U.    S.   Geological  Surrey,  F.   B.    Weeks,   Photo. 

TEN    MILES    SOUTH    OF    FURNACE    CREEK,   DEATH    VALLEY. 


ALEXANDER    MAJORS. 

Founder  of  the  Pony  Express. 


Page  132 


HEROES   OF   PONY  EXPRESS        127 

through."     Their  romantic  story  has  never  fully  been 
told. 

The  day  of  the  first  start  was  April  3,  1860.  It 
was  an  epoch-forming  day  in  transcontinental  trans- 
portation, for  not  only  did  it  cut  down  the  time  to  ten 
days,  but  it  clearly  demonstrated  that  the  central  route 
was  feasible,  and  thus  prepared  the  congressional  mind, 
as  well  as  that  of  the  public,  for  the  building  of  the 
Central  Pacific  Railway. 

Harry  Roff  was  the  first  rider.  Mounted  on  a  spirited 
bronco,  he  left  Sacramento  and  covered  the  first  twenty 
miles,  including  one  change,  hi  fifty-nine  minutes.  On 
reaching  Folsom,  he  changed  again  and  started  for 
Placerville,  at  the  foot  of  the  Sierra  Nevada,  fifty-five 
miles  away.  Here  a  rider  named  "  Boston  "  took  the 
mail-pouch  and  dashed  on  to  Friday's  Station,  crossing 
the  Sierra,  where  pack-trains  and  mules  were  kept 
constantly  moving  back  and  forth  to  tread  down  the 
snow,  which  in  some  places  was  over  thirty  feet  deep. 
Sam  Hamilton  relieved  "  Boston,"  and  took  the  ride 
through  Genoa,  Carson  City,  Dayton  and  Reed's 
Station  to  Fort  Churchill,  — •  seventy-five  miles.  So  far, 
one  hundred  and  eighty-five  miles,  the  time  consumed 
was  fifteen  hours  and  twenty  minutes,  hi  spite  of  the 
crossing  of  the  snow-covered  range.  At  Fort  Churchill, 
Robert  H.  Haslam  —  better  known  as  "  Pony  Bob,"  — 
took  the  sack  and  carried  it  one  hundred  and  twenty 
miles  through  the  country  of  the  hostile  and  warlike 
Paiutis  to  Smith's  Creek.  From  this  point  Jay  G. 
Kelley  rode  to  Ruby  Valley,  Utah,  one  hundred  and 
sixteen  miles;  thence  H.  Richardson  carried  the  pre- 


i28  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

cious  mail  one  hundred  and  five  miles  to  Deep  Creek. 
The  last  rider,  George  Thatcher,  took  it  to  Rush  Valley 
(Old  Camp  Floyd),  eighty  miles,  and  on  to  Salt  Lake 
City,  —  fifty  miles. 

The  westward  mail  from  St.  Joseph,  Missouri, 
started  at  the  same  time  and  passed  from  rider  to  rider 
by  way  of  South  Pass,  Salt  Lake,  Humbolt  River  and 
Carson  Valley  over  the  Sierras  to  Sacramento,  which 
it  reached  on  April  13.  The  news  of  its  coming  caused 
great  excitement  and  enthusiasm;  crowds  went  out 
to  meet  it,  and  both  houses  of  the  State  legislature 
then  in  session  adjourned  to  welcome  it  and  do  honor  to 
the  occasion.  The  carrier  came  in  time  for  the  regular 
afternoon  steamboat  for  San  Francisco,  and  with  his 
horse  and  the  precious  mail-bag,  just  as  he  had  ar- 
rived, was  put  on  board,  and  conveyed  to  San  Fran- 
cisco, where  he  arrived  at  one  o'clock  on  the  morning 
of  the  fourteenth.  That  city  already  had  telegraphic 
communication  with  Sacramento,  so  the  whole  city 
was  on  hand  to  welcome  the  solitary  rider  with  brass 
bands,  torches  and  all  the  acclaim  of  a  great  public 
event.  A  procession  was  formed,  the  music  struck  up, 
and  the  crowd,  enthusiastically  cheering,  conveyed  the 
mail-carrier  and  his  precious  pouch  to  the  post-office. 

Thus  was  inaugurated  the  celebrated  Pony  Express, 
which  continued  in  active  operation  for  only  about 
two  years.  There  were  two  mails  a  week,  each  way, 
but  only  about  two  hundred  letters  could  be  carried 
each  time.  Tissue  paper  ordinarily  was  used  for  the 
correspondence,  and  the  postage  was  fixed  at  five 
dollars  for  each  half  ounce. 


HEROES   OF  PONY  EXPRESS        129 

"  Pony  Bob  "  thus  describes  some  of  his  experiences, 
which  may  be  regarded  as  fairly  typical  of  those  of  his 
compeers  : 

"  About  eight  months  after  the  Pony  Express  com- 
menced operations,  the  Paiuti  War  began  in  Nevada, 
and  as  no  regular  troops  were  then  at  hand,  a  volunteer 
corps,  raised  in  California,  with  Colonel  Jack  Hayes 
and  Henry  Meredith  —  the  latter  being  killed  in  the 
first  battle  at  Pyramid  Lake  —  in  command,  came  over 
the  mountains  to  defend  the  whites.  Virginia  City, 
Nevada,  then  the  principal  point  of  interest,  and  hourly 
expecting  an  attack  from  hostile  Indians,  was  only  in 
its  infancy.  A  stone  hotel  on  C  Street  was  in  course  of 
erection,  and  had  reached  an  elevation  of  two  stories. 
This  was  hastily  transformed  into  a  fort  for  the  pro- 
tection of  women  and  children. 

"  From  the  city  the  signal  fires  of  the  Indians  could 
be  seen  on  every  mountain  peak,  and  all  available 
men  and  horses  were  pressed  into  service  to  repel  the 
impending  assault  of  the  savages.  When  I  reached 
Reed's  Station,  on  the  Carson  River,  I  found  no  change 
of  horses,  as  all  those  at  the  station  had  been  seized  by 
the  whites  to  take  part  in  the  approaching  battle. 
I  fed  the  animal  that  I  rode,  and  started  for  the  next 
station,  called  Buckland's,  afterward  known  as  Fort 
Churchill,  fifteen  miles  down  the  river.  This  point 
was  to  have  been  the  termination  of  my  journey  (as  I 
had  been  changed  from  my  old  route  to  this  one,  in 
which  I  had  had  many  narrow  escapes  and  been  twice 
wounded  by  Indians),  as  I  had  ridden  seventy-five 
miles,  but,  to  my  great  astonishment,  the  other  rider 


i3o  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

refused  to  go  on.  The  superintendent,  W.  C.  Marley, 
was  at  the  station,  but  all  his  persuasion  could  not 
prevail  on  the  rider,  Johnnie  Richardson,  to  take  the 
road.  Turning  then  to  me,  Marley  said :  '  Bob,  I'll 
give  you  fifty  dollars  if  you  make  this  ride.' 

"  I  replied:   '  I'll  go  you  once.' 

"  Within  ten  minutes,  when  I  had  adjusted  my 
Spencer  rifle  —  a  seven- shooter  —  and  my  Colt's 
revolver,  with  two  cylinders  ready  for  use  in  case  of 
an  emergency,  I  started.  From  the  station  onward 
was  a  lonely  and  dangerous  ride  of  thirty-five  miles, 
without  any  change,  to  the  sink  of  the  Carson.  I 
arrived  there  all  right,  however,  and  pushed  on  to 
Sand  Springs,  through  an  alkali  bottom  and  sand 
hills,  thirty  miles  farther,  without  a  drop  of  water 
all  along  the  route.  At  Sand  Springs  I  changed  horses, 
and  continued  on  to  Cold  Springs,  a  distance  of  thirty- 
seven  miles.  Another  change,  and  a  ride  of  thirty 
miles  more,  brought  me  to  Smith's  Creek.  Here  I  was 
relieved  by  J.  G.  Kelley.  I  had  ridden  one  hundred 
and  eighty-five  miles,  stopping  only  to  eat  and  to  change 
horses. 

"  After  remaining  at  Smith's  Creek  about  nine  hours, 
I  started  to  retrace  my  journey  with  the  return  express. 
When  I  arrived  at  Cold  Springs,  to  my  horror  I  found 
that  the  station  had  been  attacked  by  Indians,  the 
keeper  killed  and  all  the  horses  taken  away.  What 
course  to  pursue  I  decided  in  a  moment  —  I  would  go 
on.  I  watered  my  horse  —  having  ridden  him  thirty 
miles  without  stop,  he  was  pretty  tired — and  started  for 
Sand  Springs,  thirty-seven  miles  away.  It  was  growing 


HEROES   OF   PONY   EXPRESS        131 

dark,  and  my  road  lay  through  heavy  sage-brush,  high 
enough  in  some  places  to  conceal  a  horse.  I  kept  a 
bright  lookout,  and  closely  watched  every  motion  of 
my  poor  horse's  ears,  which  is  a  signal  for  danger 
in  an  Indian  country.  I  was  prepared  for  a  fight,  but  the 
stillness  of  the  night  and  the  howling  of  the  wolves 
and  coyotes  made  cold  chills  run  through  me  at  times, 
but  I  reached  Sand  Springs  in  safety  and  reported 
what  had  happened.  Before  leaving  I  advised  the 
station- keeper  to  come  with  me  to  the  sink  of  the  Carson, 
for  I  was  sure  the  Indians  would  be  upon  him  the  next 
day.  He  took  my  advice,  and  so  probably  saved  his 
life,  for  the  following  morning  Smith's  Creek  was  at- 
tacked. The  whites,  however,  were  well  protected 
in  the  shelter  of  a  stone  house,  from  which  they  fought 
the  Indians  for  four  days.  At  the  end  of  that  time 
they  were  relieved  by  the  appearance  of  about  fifty 
volunteers  from  Cold  Springs.  These  men  reported 
that  they  had  buried  John  Williams,  the  brave  keeper 
of  that  station,  but  not  before  his  body  had  been  nearly 
devoured  by  wolves. 

"  When  I  arrived  at  the  sink  of  the  Carson,  I  found 
the  station  men  badly  frightened,  for  they  had  seen 
some  fifty  warriors,  decked  out  hi  their  war-paint  and 
reconnoitering  the  station.  There  were  fifteen  white 
men  here,  well  armed  and  ready  for  a  fight. 

"  The  station  was  built  of  adobe,  and  was  large 
enough  for  the  men  and  ten  or  fifteen  horses,  with 
a  fine  spring  of  water  within  ten  feet  of  it.  I  rested 
here  an  hour,  and  after  dark  started  for  Buckland's, 
where  I  arrived  without  a  mishap  and  only  three  and  a 


i32  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

half  hours  behind  schedule  time.  I  found  Mr.  Marley 
at  Buckland's,  and  when  I  related  to  him  the  story  of  the 
Cold  Springs  tragedy  and  my  success,  he  raised  his 
previous  offer  of  fifty  dollars  for  my  ride  to  one  hundred 
dollars.  I  was  rather  tired,  but  the  excitement  of  the 
trip  had  braced  me  up  to  withstand  the  fatigue  of  the 
journey.  After  a  rest  of  one  and  a  half  hours,  I  pro- 
ceeded over  my  own  route,  from  Buckland's  to  Friday's 
Station,  crossing  the  western  summit  of  the  Sierra 
Nevada.  I  had  traveled  three  hundred  and  eighty  miles 
within  a  few  hours  of  schedule  time,  and  surrounded 
by  perils  on  every  hand." 

Alexander  Majors,  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Pony 
Express,  in  his  Memoirs  says:  "  Two  important  events 
transpired  during  the  term  of  the  Pony's  existence. 
One  was  the  carrying  of  President  Buchanan's  last 
message  to  Congress,  in  December,  1860,  from  the 
Missouri  River  to  Sacramento,  a  distance  of  two  thou- 
sand miles,  in  eight  days  and  some  hours.  The  other 
was  the  carrying  of  President  Lincoln's  inaugural  ad- 
dress of  March  4, 1861,  over  the  same  route  in  seven  days 
and,  I  think,  seventeen  hours,  being  the  quickest  time, 
taking  the  distance  into  consideration,  on  record  in 
this  or  any  other  country,  as  far  as  I  know. 

"  One  of  the  most  remarkable  feats  ever  accom- 
plished was  made  by  F.  X.  Aubery,  who  traveled  the 
distance  of  eight  hundred  miles,  between  Santa  F£, 
New  Mexico  and  Independence,  Missouri,  in  five  days 
and  thirteen  hours.  This  ride,  hi  my  opinion,  in  one 
respect  was  the  most  remarkable  one  ever  made  by 
any  man.  The  entire  distance  was  ridden  without 


HEROES   OF   PONY   EXPRESS        133 

stopping  to  rest,  and  having  a  change  of  horses  only 
once  in  every  one  hundred  or  two  hundred  miles. 
He  kept  a  lead- horse  by  his  side  most  of  the  time,  so 
that  when  the  one  he  was  riding  gave  out  entirely, 
he  changed  the  saddle  to  the  extra  horse,  left  the  horse 
he  had  been  riding,  and  went  on  again  at  full 
speed. 

"  At  the  time  he  made  this  ride,  in  much  of  the  terri- 
tory he  passed  through  he  was  liable  to  meet  hostile 
Indians,  so  that  his  adventure  was  daring  hi  more  ways 
than  one.  In  the  first  place,  the  man  who  attempted  to 
ride  eight  hundred  miles  in  the  time  he  did  took  his 
life  in  his  hands.  There  is  perhaps  not  one  man  hi  a 
million  who  could  have  lived  to  finish  such  a  journey." 

Another  rider,  J.  G.  Kelley,  thus  tells  some  of  his 
own  experiences.  He  was  appointed  assistant  to  the 
station-keeper  at  Sand  Springs: 

"  The  war  against  the  Paiuti  Indians  was  then  at  its 
height,  and  we  were  in  the  middle  of  the  Paiuti  country, 
which  made  it  necessary  for  us  to  keep  a  standing  guard 
night  and  day.  The  Indians  were  often  seen  skulking 
around,  but  none  of  them  ever  came  near  enough  for 
us  to  get  a  shot  at  them,  till  one  dark  night,  when 
I  was  on  guard,  I  noticed  one  of  our  horses  prick  up 
his  ears  and  stare.  I  looked  in  the  direction  indicated 
and  saw  an  Indian's  head  projecting  above  the  wall. 

"  My  instructions  were  to  shoot  if  I  saw  an  Indian 
within  shooting  distance,  as  that  would  wake  the  boys 
quicker  than  anything  else;  so  I  fired  and  missed  my 
man. 

"  Later  on  we  saw  the  Indian  camp-fires  on  the 


i34  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

mountain,  and  in  the  morning  saw  many  tracks.  They 
evidently  intended  to  stampede  our  horses,  and  if 
necessary  kill  us.  The  next  day  one  of  our  riders, 
a  Mexican,  rode  into  camp  with  a  bullet  hole  through 
him  from  the  left  to  the  right  side,  having  been  shot  by 
Indians  while  coming  down  Edwards  Creek,  in  the 
quaking- asp  bottom.  This  he  told  us  as  we  assisted 
him  off  his  horse.  He  was  tenderly  cared  for,  but 
died  before  surgical  aid  could  reach  him. 

"  As  I  was  the  lightest  man  of  the  station,  I  was 
ordered  to  take  the  Mexican's  place  on  the  route.  My 
weight  was  then  one  hundred  pounds,  while  I  now 
weigh  two  hundred  and  thirty.  Two  days  after  taking 
the  route,  on  my  return  trip,  I  had  to  ride  through  the 
forest  of  quaking- asp  trees  where  the  Mexican  had  been 
shot.  A  trail  had  been  cut  through  these  little  trees, 
just  wide  enough  to  allow  a  horse  and  rider  to  pass. 
As  the  road  was  crooked  and  the  branches  came  to- 
gether from  either  side,  just  above  my  head  when 
mounted,  it  was  impossible  to  see  ahead  more  than 
ten  or  fifteen  yards,  and  it  was  two  miles  through  the 
forest. 

"  I  expected  to  have  trouble,  and  prepared  for  it  by 
dropping  my  bridle  reins  on  the  neck  of  my  horse,  put 
my  Sharp's  rifle  at  full  cock,  kept  both  spurs  in  the 
flanks,  and  we  went  through  that  forest  like  a  '  streak 
of  greased  lightning.' 

"  At  the  top  of  the  hill  I  dismounted  to  rest  my  horse, 
and  looking  back,  saw  the  bushes  moving  in  several 
places.  As  there  were  no  cattle  or  game  in  that  vicinity, 
I  knew  the  movements  must  be  caused  by  Indians, 


HEROES  OF  PONY  EXPRESS        135 

and  was  more  positive  of  it  when,  after  firing  several 
shots  at  the  spot  where  I  saw  the  bushes  moving,  all 
agitation  ceased.  Several  days  after  that,  two  United 
States  soldiers,  who  were  on  the  way  to  their  command, 
were  shot  and  killed  from  the  ambush  of  those  bushes, 
and  stripped  of  their  clothing,  by  the  red  devils." 

These  stories  are  but  typical.  Others  could  be  told 
equally  interesting  of  adventures  "  by  flood  and  field," 
—  fording  dangerous  streams,  sinking  into  quicksands, 
swallowed  up  by  floods  and  cloudbursts,  caught  in 
sandstorms,  perishing  in  snow-drifts,  scorching  to 
death  in  alkali  flats  that  reflected  the  fierce  rays  of 
the  summer  sun,  bewildered  by  mirages,  tormented  by 
thirst,  etc.,  etc.  These  gallant  men  deserve  a  monu- 
ment to  their  memory  and  work,  for  every  day  saw 
them  do  brave  and  heroic  deeds. 

Equally  meritorious  was  the  profession  of  stage- 
driving  in  those  early  and  Indian-threatening  days. 
Most  of  the  old-time  "  knights  of  the  whip  "  were 
true  heroes. 

Regardless  of  all  obstacles,  they  resolutely  endeav- 
ored to  get  through  "  on  time."  Attacks  by  Indians, 
"  hold-ups  "  by  "  road  agents,"  blockings  of  the  road 
by  snow,  mud  or  drifted  sands,  the  flooding  of  streams 
that  must  be  forded,  the  breaking  of  bridges,  accidents 
to  themselves,  stock,  or  coaches,  —  anything,  every- 
thing must  be  overcome  and  the  wheels  roll  into  the 
station  on  "  schedule  time."  Many  a  time  have  I 
ridden  with  these  old  knights  of  the  whip,  for  thirty 
years  ago,  when  I  first  came  to  the  West,  though  the 
Central  Pacific  Railway  had  ousted  the  overland  stage, 


136  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

there  were  many  side  routes  in  California,  Nevada  and 
Arizona  over  which  stages  still  ran. 

This  chapter  cannot  better  be  concluded  than  by 
a  quotation  from  a  novel,  one  of  the  first  written  by 
a  Californian,  which  gives  a  true  account  of  a  portion 
of  a  stage-ride  over  the  Sierra  Nevada: 

"  The  brake  was  left  untouched,  and  the  vehicle 
pushing  upon  the  horses  sent  them  flying  down  the 
grade  with  fearful  rapidity.  It  was  not  driving  that 
Jack  now  did.  It  was  too  dark  to  drive.  He  could 
only  hold  the  lines  in  his  hand  and  let  the  horses  follow 
their  own  instinct.  True,  they  would  not  go  over  the 
precipice  of  their  own  accord;  but  they  might  go  so 
near  the  edge  at  any  moment  as  to  let  the  coach  fall 
over.  .  .  . 

"  And  so  they  thundered  along  the  narrow  shelf  cut 
in  the  mountain-side,  at  the  rate  of  sixteen  miles  an 
hour,  trusting  all  to  the  instinct  of  six  mustangs. 

"  At  each  half  minute  a  gleam  of  lightning  would  blaze 
forth,  and  show  them  the  yawning  gulf,  fifteen  hundred 
feet  deep,  along  the  very  edge  of  which  they  were  madly 
rushing.  So,  round  and  round,  they  twisted  and  curved 
with  the  spurs  and  angles  of  the  mountain,  at  times 
running  out  upon  a  projecting  point,  at  the  end  of 
which,  seemingly,  nothing  but  wings  could  rescue 
them  from  the  fearful  plunge  that  lay  beyond;  but, 
just  as  the  leap  was  to  be  taken,  the  jaunty  lead  horses 
would  turn  a  sharp  corner  of  the  projecting  wall,  fol- 
lowed by  the  others,  and  at  last  the  coach  itself  would 
sway  over  the  abyss,  and  then,  with  a  roll  and  a  swing, 
follow  the  flying  horses  along  the  ledge,  still  in  safety." 


CHAPTER    XVII 

THE    STREET- PREACHING    HERO    OF      "  FORTY-NINE," 
WILLIAM   TAYLOR 

EGARDLESS  of  differences  of  opinion  in  the- 
ology  and  churches,  every  person  can  recognize 
courage,  bravery  and  heroism  in  actions  prompted  by 
religious  belief.  Intelligent  Methodists  appreciate  the 
spirit  of  the  work  of  Padre  Serra  as  much  as  do  the 
Catholics,  and  good  Christian  Scientists  can  see  the 
bravery  and  courage  of  Livingstone  as  well  as  the 
Scotch  Presbyterians.  Whatever  a  man's  belief,  it 
certainly  requires  faith,  bravery,  courage  of  a  high 
order  —  in  a  word,  heroism  —  to  preach  a  pure  and 
simple  religion  in  all  its  rigor  to  men  of  openly  wicked 
lives.  It  will  not  be  denied  by  any  student,  and  cer- 
tainly not  by  any  pioneer,  that  there  was  much  open 
wickedness  in  California,  both  in  San  Francisco  and 
the  mines,  in  the  early  days  after  the  discovery  of 
gold.  While  it  is  not  true,  as  some  have  rashly  as- 
serted, that  the  greater  part  of  the  pioneers  were  men 
of  irreligious  and  immoral  lives,  it  must  be  confessed 
that  for  many  years  certain  phases  of  wickedness 
were  rampant,  open  and  defiant.  Senator  Wilson 
Flint  says  that  in  1850  three  sides  of  Portsmouth  Square 
in  San  Francisco  "  were  mostly  occupied  by  buildings 
which  served  the  double  purpose  of  hotels  and  gambling- 


138  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

houses,  the  latter  calling  being  regarded  at  that  time 
as  a  very  reputable  profession." 

A  writer  in  1876  says:  "  Gambling!  It  is  not 
strange  that,  to-day,  San  Franciscans  are  so  fond  of 
speculative  sports  and  businesses.  Twenty  and  twenty- 
five  years  ago  they  all  gambled.  The  finest  and  most 
substantial  houses  in  the  city  were  the  '  gilded  palaces 
of  chance.'  Faro,  roulette,  monte",  and  rondo  were  all 
favorite  games.  Gold  was  so  easily  obtained  and  so 
abundant,  that  everybody  had  money  to  stake  on  the 
game.  Sometimes  these  stakes  were  enormous.  Twenty 
thousand  dollars  were  risked  on  the  turn  of  a  single 
card.  Such  large  bets  were,  of  course,  rare;  but  one 
thousand,  three  thousand,  and  five  thousand  dollars 
were  almost  nightly  lost  and  won  as  single  stakes. 

"  So  popular  was  the  game,  that  men  who  had  quit 
the  pulpit,  the  deaconship,  the  Sabbath- school  teach- 
er's place,  to  come  to  California,  as  naturally  drifted 
into  the  gambling-house  and  took  their  turn  at  play 
as  the  most  hardened  gamester.  The  gambling- 
houses  were  the  only  places  of  resort.  Every  lodging- 
house  was  full  and  overflowing;  hotels  were  crowxled, 
and  as  there  were  no  homes  in  this  strange  community, 
the  restless  people  must  needs  seek  shelter  in  the 
barrooms  where  the  games  went  on.  These  places 
were  comfortable  at  least;  they  were  well  lighted  at 
night,  there  was  that  other  subtle  attraction,  that 
exciting  and  intoxicating  amusement  that,  once  in- 
dulged in  with  success,  becomes  fascinating." 

The  writers  of  the  Annals  of  San  Francisco  state 
that:  "The  general  population  of  San  Francisco 


STREET  -  PREACHING   HERO         139 

in  1852,  with  shame  it  must  be  confessed,  in  those 
days  —  as  is  still  the  case  in  1854,  to  a  considerable 
extent  —  drank  largely  of  intoxicating  liquors.  A 
great  many  tippled  at  times,  and  quite  as  many  swore 
lustily.  They  are  an  adventurous  people,  and  their  en- 
joyments are  all  of  an  exciting  kind.  They  are  bold 
and  reckless,  from  the  style  of  the  place  and  the  nature 
both  of  business  and  amusement.  Newcomers  fall 
naturally  into  the  same  character." 

Again  they  say :  "  There  is  a  sad  recklessness  of 
conduct  and  carelessness  of  life  among  the  people 
of  California,  and  nearly  all  the  inhabitants  of  San 
Francisco,  whatever  be  their  native  country,  or  their 
original  pacific  disposition,  share  in  the  same  hasty, 
wild  character  and  feeling." 

I  have  quoted  these  passages,  but  deem  them  all, 
except  that  of  Senator  Flint,  exaggerated.  The  open- 
ness of  vice  was  so  glaring  that  it  obstructed  the  vision 
of  the  ordinary  observer,  and  prevented  him  from  seeing 
and  knowing  the  large  number  of  good  men  the  city 
possessed.  But  it  was  bad  enough,  and  honest,  true, 
sober,  and  Christian  men  of  every  faith,  Catholic 
and  Protestant  alike,  felt  that  something  should  be 
done  to  check  the  open  spirit  of  profligacy,  vice  and 
immorality. 

A  common  expression  of  those  early  days  to  palliate 
man's  open  indulgence  in  wrong-doing  was  "  God 
doesn't  hold  any  man  responsible  for  his  conduct  after 
he  crosses  the  Missourj  River,"  and  another:  "It  is 
impossible  to  live  religion  in  California,  and  there- 
fore it's  no  use  to  try." 


140  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

These  quotations,  even  though  exaggerated,  show 
that  drinking,  gambling,  sensuality  and  carousing 
generally  were  openly  indulged  in,  and  both  palliated 
and  tolerated  by  many  people.  Nearly  every  man 
went  fully  armed.  The  revolver  and  bowie  knife 
were  almost  as  common  possessions  as  an  ordinary 
pocket-knife  is  to-day.  Hence  it  can  well  be  seen 
that  a  timid  and  hesitating  soul  would  have  deemed 
it  the  risk  of  his  life  to  enter  the  stronghold  of  this 
class  of  men  and  boldly  tell  them  of  their  lawlessness. 
But  among  the  earliest  arrivals  in  San  Francisco  after 
the  gold  discovery  became  known  was  a  man  who 
knew  no  fear,  who  had  no  timidity,  who  was  bold 
to  temerity,  and  outspoken  to  apparent  recklessness. 
This  man  was  William  Taylor,  a  Methodist  preacher 
from  Baltimore,  Maryland,  who  for  seven  years 
preached  every  Sunday  in  the  streets  of  San  Francisco, 
and  afterwards  wrote  a  book,  entitled  Seven  Years 
Street-Preaching  in  San  Francisco,  from  which  most 
of  the  statements  in  this  chapter  are  taken. 

He  arrived  in  San  Francisco  September  22,  1849, 
and  on  December  3,  1849,  ne  announced  at  the  little 
Methodist  church  "  on  the  hill,"  that  he  would  preach 
in  the  open  air,  in  Portsmouth  Square,  at  three  P.  M. 

Says  Taylor:  "It  was  regarded  by  most  persons 
present,  if  not  all,  as  a  very  dangerous  experiment; 
for  the  gamblers  were  a  powerful  and  influential  party 
in  the  city,  and  the  Plaza  was  their  principal  rendez- 
vous, and  Sunday  the  best  day  of  the  seven  for  their 
business.  The  Plaza  was  nearly  surrounded  by 
gambling  and  drinking-houses.  The  gamblers  oc- 


STREET  -  PREACHING   HERO         141 

cupied  the  best  houses  in  the  city,  and  had  them 
furnished  in  the  most  magnificent  style. 

"  The  walls  of  these  houses  (the  gambling  and 
drinking- saloons)  were  hung  with  splendid  paintings; 
'the  tables'  contained  'piles'  of  gold  and  silver;  the 
musicians  occupied  a  high  platform  in  the  rear  end 
of  the  saloon ;  the  '  needful '  was  served  out  by  '  a 
gentleman  of  the  bar,'  in  one  corner,  near  the  en- 
trance, where  many  a  jolly  circle  drank  to  each  other's 
health  the  deadly  draught.  These  places,  especially 
at  night,  all  night,  and  on  Sunday,  were  crowded 
with  moving  masses  of  humanity,  of  every  age  and 
complexion.  So  powerful  was  this  class  of  men  in 
the  city,  that  I  do  not  remember  of  ever  hearing  of  one 
of  them,  in  those  days,  being  arrested,  even  for  mur- 
der." 

Here  it  was  that  William  Taylor,  his  wife  and  another 
lady  seated  near  by,  took  his  stand  on  a  carpenter's 
work-bench,  and,  after  singing  an  old-fashioned  Meth- 
odist hymn,  began  to  preach  to  an  immense  crowd. 
To  be  a  successful  street- preacher  requires  genius  of 
a  peculiar  order,  and  Taylor's  introductory  remarks 
at  least  foreshadowed  his  possession  of  this  genius. 
He  said:  "  Gentlemen,  if  our  friends  in  the  Atlantic 
States,  with  the  views  and  feelings  they  entertained 
of  California  society  when  I  left  there,  had  heard  that 
there  was  to  be  preaching  this  afternoon  in  Portsmouth 
Square,  in  San  Francisco,  they  would  have  predicted 
disorder,  confusion,  and  riot;  but  we,  who  are  here, 
believe  very  differently.  One  thing  is  certain,  there 
is  no  man  who  loves  to  see  those  Stars  and  Stripes 


i42  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

floating  on  the  breeze  "  (pointing  to  the  flag  of  our 
Union),  "  and  who  loves  the  institutions  fostered  under 
them;  in  a  word,  there's  no  true  American  but  will 
observe  order  under  the  preaching  of  God's  word 
anywhere,  and  maintain  it,  if  need  be.  We  shall  have 
order,  gentlemen."  He  then  proceeded  with  his 
address,  and  this  "  proved  to  be  the  first  of  a  series 
of  nearly  six  hundred  sermons  preached  in  these 
streets,  the  confluence  of  all  the  various  creeds,  and 
isms,  and  notions,  and  feelings,  and  prejudices  of  the 
representatives  of  all  the  nations,  Christian  and 
heathen." 

This  shrewdness  in  introducing  the  subject  to  his 
peculiar  audience  was  but  one  proof  of  his  especial 
fitness  for  the  work  he  had  chosen.  Other  qualities 
were  equally  essential  to  success.  He  must  be  able 
to  seize  upon  any  passing  or  trivial  circumstance,  and 
turn  it  to  advantage;  he  must  be  witty  and  skilful  at 
repartee;  he  must  be  good-natured,  patient  and  gentle- 
manly under  diversely  irritating  and  provoking  cir- 
cumstances, yet  firm  and  insistent  upon  the  mainte- 
nance of  good  order;  fearless  in  speech  and  conduct; 
honest,  sincere  and  simple  in  his  daily  life;  and  he 
must  also  be  a  devotee  to  that  which  he  declares. 

Scores  of  forceful  instances  might  be  related  showing 
Taylor's  power  to  seize  and  happily  turn  the  passing 
circumstance  to  his  advantage.  He  once  preached, 
on  the  Pacific  Street  Wharf,  with  a  barrel  of  whisky 
as  a  pulpit,  and  thus  prefaced  his  discourse:  "  Gentle- 
men, I  have  for  my  pulpit  to-day,  as  you  see,  a  barrel 
of  whisky.  I  presume  this  is  the  first  time  this  barrel 


STREET  -  PREACHING   HERO         143 

has  ever  been  appropriated  to  a  useful  purpose.  The 
'  critter '  contained  in  it  will  do  me  no  harm  while 
I  keep  it  under  my  feet.  And  let  me  say  now  to  you 
all,  to  sailors  and  to  landsmen,  never  let  the  '  critter  ' 
get  above  your  feet.  Keep  it  under  your  feet,  and  you 
have  nothing  to  fear  from  it." 

The  following  Sunday  his  pulpit  was  a  barrel  of 
pork,  and  this  led  to  the  following  introduction:  "I 
see  my  pulpit  of  last  Sabbath,  the  barrel  of  whisky,  is 
gone,  and  I  am  very  much  afraid  that  my  timely 
warning,  as  is  too  often  the  case,  was  not  heeded,  and 
that  its  contents  have  ere  this  gone  down  the  throats 
of  some  of  our  fellow-citizens.  I  have  in  its  stead  to- 
day, as  you  see,  a  barrel  of  pork,  literally  less  of  the 
spirit  and  more  of  the  flesh."  He  then  proceeded  to 
discourse  upon  the  necessity  of  keeping  under  the  lusts 
of  the  flesh  if  a  man  would  attain  to  the  happiness  of 
wisdom. 

A  shrewd,  homely  wit  aided  this  turning  of  circum- 
stance to  fortuitous  advantage.  One  Sunday  two 
fruit  vendors,  thinking  to  turn  to  profit  the  large 
crowds  that  Taylor  always  gathered  around  him,  set 
up  their  movable  stands,  one  on  each  side  of  his  barrel 
pulpit.  Appearing  not  to  notice  their  presence,  Taylor 
—  as  he  quaintly  terms  it  —  began  to  "  sing  up  "  his 
congregation,  and  soon  had  a  circle  about  twenty  deep, 
standing  as  close  as  possible,  with  the  Spanish  and 
French  fruit-dealers  in  the  centre.  He  then  cried  out: 
"  Grapes,  pears,  and  oranges!  Gentlemen,  you  must 
not  suppose  that  I  have  any  interest  in  this  Sunday 
traffic  in  calling  you  together  around  it.  I  hope  you 


144  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

will  not  patronize  these  Sabbath-breakers.  You  are  not 
so  grape-hungry  but  that  you  can  wait  until  to-morrow, 
and  then  during  the  six  days  in  the  week  lay  in  a 
supply  for  Sunday.  These  fellows  have  set  up  here, 
expecting  to  make  a  fine  speculation  out  of  my  audi- 
ence this  morning;  but  they  will  find  that  they  have 
brought  their  fruit  to  the  wrong  market." 

By  this  time  the  fruit- dealers  were  very  uncom- 
fortable, and  would  gladly  have  escaped,  but  they 
were  so  completely  hemmed  in  that  they  were  com- 
pelled to  take  the  preacher's  raillery,  and  then  stand 
while  he  preached  a  longer  sermon  (doubtless)  than 
usual,  without  the  sale  of  a  dime's  worth  of  their  fruit. 

On  another  occasion,  to  quote  from  Mr.  Taylor: 

"  Once,  when  a  lean-looking  man,  driving  a  poor 
horse,  was  trying  to  urge  his  way  through  the  crowd, 
I  said:  '  Look  at  that  poor  man!  Working  seven  days 
in  the  week  is  bringing  him  rapidly  down  to  his  grave! 
A  man  cannot  break  the  law  of  the  Sabbath  without 
violating  a  law  of  his  own  constitution.  Look  at  his 
sunken,  sallow  cheeks,  and  his  dim  eyes!  How  the 
sin  of  Sabbath-breaking  is  telling  on  him!  He'll  die 
soon  if  he  doesn't  reform.  Look  at  his  poor  old  horse! 
The  Lord  ordained  a  Sabbath  for  that  horse,  but  his 
merciless  master  is  cheating  him  out  of  it.  See  there, 
how  he  beats  him.  After  all,  I  had  rather  be  the  horse 
than  the  man,  if  he  dies  as  he  lives.' 

'*  On  another  occasion  a  wag,  thinking  to  have  a  little 
sport,  tried  to  ride  through  the  crowd  on  a  burro. 
His  animal  refusing  to  go  through,  I  said :  '  See  there, 
that  animal,  like  Balaam's  of  the  same  kind,  has  more 


SAN    FRANCISCO    IN    1849,    FROM    THE    HEAD    OF    CLAY    STREET. 
From  old  wood-cuts. 

Pages  137-153 


PIONEERS    LINED     UP     FOR     THEIR     MAIL    AT    THE     POST    OFFICE, 
CORNER  OF  PIKE  AND  CLAY  STREETS,  SAN  FRANCISCO,   IN    1849. 


STREET  -  PREACHING   HERO         145 

respect  for  the  worship  of  God  than  his  master,  who 
only  lacks  the  ears  of  being  the  greater  ass  of  the 
two.'  " 

Reference  has  already  been  made  to  Mr.  Taylor's 
attacks  upon  what  he  conceived  to  be  Sabbath-break- 
ing. He  was  equally  fearless  in  attacking  other  evils. 
Naturally  the  rum-seller  came  in  for  his  share  of  these 
denunciations.  "  Look  at  that  rum-seller.  The  house 
in  which  he  lives,  and  from  which  are  the  issues  of 
death,  once  belonged  to  a  man  of  property  and  respect- 
ability. He  lived  there  with  his  happy  family;  but 
the  wily  '  gentleman  of  the  bar  '  took  advantage  of 
the  moral  imbecility  of  his  victim,  just  as  the  high- 
wayman takes  advantage  of  the  physical  imbecility 
of  the  man  he  murders  and  robs.  He  has  long  since 
sent  his  victim's  shattered,  bloated  carcass  to  a  drunk- 
ard's grave.  His  family  are  in  the  poor  house,  daily 
shedding  fountains  of  tears  more  bitter  than  death." 

Once  he  was  called  upon  to  preach  a  funeral  dis- 
course over  a  gambler  who  had  been  shot  in  a  quarrel 
with  a  fellow-gambler.  A  habitue  of  the  gambling- 
house  went  to  Mr.  Taylor,  saying:  "  I  think  it  would 
be  a  pity  to  bury  the  poor  fellow  without  any  kind  of 
religious  ceremony,  and  it  will  be  a  comfort  to  his 
friends." 

Surrounded  by  gamblers,  Mr.  Taylor  preached  to 
them  of  the  evil  of  their  profession.  Among  other 
remarks,  he  said:  "  What  are  you  about?  What  are 
you  doing  here  in  California?  Look  at  that  bloody 
corpse!  What  will  his  mother  say?  What  will  his 
sisters  think  of  it?  To  die  in  a  distant  land,  among 


i46  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

strangers,  is  bad;  to  die  unforgiven,  suddenly,  unex- 
pectedly, is  worse;  to  be  shot  down  in  a  gambling- 
house,  at  the  midnight  hour  —  Oh,  horrible!  And 
yet  this  is  the  legitimate  fruit  of  the  excitement  and  dis- 
sipation, chagrin  and  disappointment,  consequent 
upon  your  business;  a  business  fatal  to  your  best 
interests  of  body  and  soul,  for  time  and  for  eternity. 

"  Again,  look  at  its  influence  upon  society.  The 
unwary  are  decoyed  and  ruined.  Little  boys,  charmed 
by  your  animating  music,  dazzled  by  the  magnificent 
paraphernalia  of  your  saloons,  are  enticed,  corrupted, 
and  destroyed,  to  the  hopeless  grief  of  their  mothers." 

He  was  scathing  in  his  denunciation  of  the  land- 
sharks  who  preyed  upon  the  poor  sailors.  In  an  elab- 
orate and  especially  prepared  address,  he  completely 
exposed  their  nefarious  methods,  and  his  book  contains 
a  chapter  entitled  "  '  Shanghaing  '  the  Sailors."  His 
sympathy  with  the  sailor  is  shown  on  every  page  and  in 
every  line.  He  truthfully  says:  "  The  history  of  the 
sailor,  his  isolation  from  domestic  society  and  the 
refinements  and  luxuries  of  home,  his  spirit  of  adventure, 
courage,  patience,  toils,  sufferings  by  starvation,  cold, 
shipwreck,  confinement  in  foreign  hospitals,  adven- 
tures among  savages  and  cannibals,  his  imprisonments 
and  slow  tortures,  his  death  by  the  violence  of  war 
and  piracy,  by  the  violence  of  the  hurricane  that  sweeps 
the  ocean,  and  by  the  more  dreadful  tortures  of  wasting 
famine,  has  been  written  in  detached  fragments  on 
every  page  of  the  history  of  commercial  nations,  and 
especially  of  our  own  country." 

He  defines  "shanghaing"  as  follows:    "The  term 


STREET  -  PREACHING   HERO         147 

'  shanghaing  '  is  of  Californian  origin,  and  was  intro- 
duced in  this  way.  A  few  years  ago  it  was  very  diffi- 
cult to  make  up  a  crew  in  San  Francisco,  especially 
for  any  place  from  which  they  could  not  get  a  ready 
passage  back  to  this  land  of  gold.  Crews  could  be 
made  up  for  Oregon,  Washington  Territory,  the  Is- 
lands, and  the  ports  of  South  America;  for  from  any 
of  these  places  they  could  readily  return.  Even  from 
Canton,  they  could  stand  a  pretty  good  chance  of  a 
direct  run  back;  but  from  Shanghai,  there  were 
seldom  ever  any  ships  returning  to  California.  To 
get  back,  therefore,  from  Shanghai,  they  must  make 
the  voyage  around  the  world.  That  was  getting  quite 
too  far  away  from  the  '  placers '  of  our  mountains. 
Hence,  to  get  crews  for  Shanghai,  they  depended 
almost  exclusively  on  drugging  the  men.  Crews  for 
Shanghai  were,  therefore,  said  to  be  '  shanghaied ' ; 
and  the  term  came  into  general  use  to  represent  the 
whole  system  of  drugging,  extortion  and  cruelty." 

The  preacher  went  on  to  show  how  a  perfect  system 
existed  for  swindling  and  oppressing  the  sailor,  so 
that  he  was  robbed  on  every  hand,  often  maltreated, 
shipped  against  his  will,  kept  in  a  state  of  abject  sub- 
jection, drugged  and  poisoned,  and  even  sometimes 
brutally  murdered  if  he  dared  resist  the  oppressions 
of  these  fiends  in  human  form.  "To  drown  men's 
souls  in  rum,  to  poison,  enervate,  and  destroy  their 
bodies,  and  rob  them  of  all  their  hard  earnings,  and 
leave  their  widowed  mothers,  wives,  and  children, 
who  are  dependent  upon  them,  to  beg  or  starve,  is 
perfect  sport  for  the  '  land-shark.'  The  great  man- 


i48  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

eater  of  the  deep  is  satisfied  to  get  the  stray  carcass  of 
a  sailor  occasionally,  but  these  dry-land  monsters 
must  have  soul,  body,  and  estate  of  all  the  sailors,  if 
possible." 

He  was  equally  fearless  in  his  impeachment  of  duel- 
ling. It  is  interesting  here  to  note  that  he  was  an  in- 
timate friend  of  James  King  of  William,  and,  of  course, 
heartily  approved  of  the  latter's  brave  and  courageous 
stand  on  the  subject  of  "  the  code."  He  it  was  who 
nursed  King,  day  and  night,  after  he  was  shot  by  Casey, 
and  was  with  him  when  he  died.  Hence  it  can  well 
be  imagined  that  he  would  have  no  "  soft  words  "  to 
utter  when,  in  1854,  he  was  asked  to  preach  the  funeral 
sermon  of  Colonel  Woodlief,  who  had  been  killed  in 
a  duel  by  a  man  named  Kewen.  While  offering 
all  the  consolation  and  sympathy  he  could  to  the  be- 
reaved widow,  he  expressed  his  sincere  regrets  that  the 
husband  had  not  had  the  moral  courage  to  do  as  James 
King  had  done,  viz.,  to  refuse  to  meet  the  challenger, 
whom  he  called  a  moral  coward.  His  arraignment 
of  the  "  code  "  was  bitter  and  severe.  He  showed  that 
those  who  participated  in  duelling  wrere  law-breakers, 
both  in  the  sight  of  God  and  man,  and  that  the  sooner 
men  abandoned  their  ideas  of  such  false  "  honor  " 
the  better  it  would  be  for  them  and  the  country. 

One  Sunday  he  preached  on  the  subject  "  King 
David's  Fool."  His  text  was  "  The  fool  hath  said  hi 
his  heart,  There  is  no  God."  In  the  plainest,  most 
direct  and  simple  fashion  he  thrust  home  these  plain 
words  of  the  psalmist,  and  contended  that  lives  speak 
louder  than  words.  He  asserted  that  the  lives  of  the 


STREET  -  PREACHING   HERO         149 

gamblers,  rum-sellers,  sensualists  and  others  proclaimed 
more  loudly  and  certainly  than  words  their  belief  in 
the  statement  of  King  David's  fool.  Then  he  showed 
the  folly  of  the  belief,  and  contended  for  the  wisdom 
that  recognized  the  moral  control  of  the  universe  to 
which  every  human  being  is  subject,  and  to  which, 
sooner  or  later,  lie  must  bow. 

One  thing  it  is  well  to  note  in  this  street-preaching 
work  of  Mr.  Taylor.  Though  he  conducted  about 
six  hundred  services,  he  never  took  up  a  collection 
for  his  own  personal  needs.  Several  times  his  enthu- 
siastic auditors  started  to  take  up  a  collection  —  and 
it  is  well  known  that  the  miners  and  sailors  who  often 
comprised  a  large  part  of  his  audiences  were  most 
liberal  and  generous  men  —  but  he  always  restrained 
them.  He  positively  refused  to  have  his  street  serv- 
ices trammeled  by  collections.  He  determined  that  no 
man  should  be  able  to  impugn  his  motives  and  say 
that  he  preached  for  money. 

It  is  an  important  historical  fact  that  should  not  be 
forgotten  that  to  William  Taylor  California  owes  its 
great  eucalyptus  forests  and  plantations.  After  this 
chapter  was  written,  I  came  across  his  own  statement 
as  to  how  the  eucalyptus  was  introduced.  He  says: 
"  There  were  no  such  trees  on  that  coast  when  I  went 
there  in  1849.  I  sent  the  seed  from  Australia  to  my 
wife  in  California  in  1863.  Her  seed- so  wing  made 
such  a  marvelous  growth  that  a  horticulturist  neighbor 
of  ours  wrote  me  to  send  him  a  pound  of  the  seed  — 
the  smallest  of  all  seeds  —  and  the  nurseries,  thus 
seeded,  dotted  the  whole  country  with  great  forests 


i5o  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

of    evergreen,   the   most    prominent   floral   landmarks 
of  the  Pacific  Coast." 

It  is  interesting  to  note  the  conditions  of  things  when 
Mr.  Taylor  settled  in  San  Francisco.  The  Reverend 
O.  C.  Wheeler,  the  Baptist  minister,  was  paying  five 
hundred  dollars  a  month  rent  for  a  five-roomed  house. 
The  newcomer  was  aghast  at  such  prices,  and  soon 
decided  that  the  only  way  for  him  to  live  would  be 
to  build  a  house.  But  how?  Lumber  was  selling  at 
from  three  to  four  hundred  dollars  per  thousand  feet, 
and  the  members  of  his  little  church  were  so  poor 
that  a  subscription  raised  only  twenty- seven  dollars 
—  about  enough  to  buy  nails  and  hinges.  He  then 
decided  to  cross  the  Bay  to  the  redwoods,  and  cut  out 
enough  lumber  to  serve  for  the  building  of  a  house. 
He  was  neither  a  sawyer,  a  carpenter,  or  a  builder,  but 
already  he  was  possessed  of  that  spirit  of  California 
that  enables  a  man  of  spirit  to  turn  his  hand  to  anything 
and  accomplish  results.  A  friend  accompanied  him. 
Passage  was  taken  in  a  whaleboat,  and  fortunately 
another  friend  lived  up  the  mountain,  five  miles 
away,  whither  the  two  walked.  In  two  weeks  they 
secured  enough  lumber  for  the  house.  Here  is  Mr. 
Taylor's  own  account:  "  My  scantlings,  which  I  bought 
in  the  rough,  split  out  like  large  fence  rails,  I  hewed 
to  the  square  with  my  broadaxe.  I  made  three  thou- 
sand shingles,  and  exchanged  them  with  a  pit- sawyer 
for  twenty-four  joists,  each  seventeen  feet  long.  I 
bought  rough  clapboards  six  feet  long,  and  shaved 
them  about  as  regularly  and  as  smoothly  with  my 
draw-knife  as  if  with  a  plane.  These  were  for  the 


STREET  -  PREACHING   HERO         151 

weather-boarding.  I  used  similar  boards,  slightly 
shaven,  for  roofing,  which  were  waterproof  and  very 
enduring.  I  bought  the  doors  from  a  friend  at  the 
'  reduced  price '  of  eleven  dollars  per  door;  the 
windows  for  one  dollar  per  light,  twelve  dollars  for  each 
window.  Hauling  my  stuff  from  the  redwoods  to  the 
landing  cost  me  twenty-five  dollars  per  thousand  feet. 
The  regular  price  for  transport  thence  to  San  Fran- 
cisco was  forty  dollars  per  thousand  feet,  but  by  hiring 
a  boat  and  working  with  my  own  hands,  I  got  the  work 
done  for  less  than  half  that  price." 

He  bought  a  lot  on  Jackson  Street,  above  Powell, 
for  twelve  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  (on  time),  and 
under  the  instruction  of  a  brotherly  house-builder  set 
to  work.  He  hired  a  few  carpenters  at  twelve  dollars 
a  day  until,  the  house  was  roofed  in,  and  then  com- 
pleted the  work  himself  with  such  casual  help  as 
friends  could  afford  to  give.  The  result  was  a  com- 
fortable, two-story  house,  sixteen  by  twenty-six  feet, 
built  at  a  cash  outlay  of  $1491.25. 

He  also  enclosed  the  back  part  of  the  lot,  and  started 
a  garden.  It  was  the  second  garden  planted  in  San 
Francisco,  and  was  a  great  surprise  and  pleasure 
to  passers-by.  A  restaurant-keeper  one  day  asked  if 
he  might  purchase  some  of  the  growing  green-stuff,  and 
was  told  he  might  do  so  at  his  own  price.  He  gathered 
a  pailful  and  offered  ten  dollars  for  it,  and  came  again 
for  more.  Three  chickens  were  bought  for  eighteen 
dollars,  and  though  a  house  was  built,  with  a  secure 
lock,  for  their  protection,  some  thief  pulled  a  board 
off  the  back  of  the  house  and  robbed  the  roost  of  its 


152  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

contents.  This  was  exasperating,  especially  as  eggs 
were  selling  at  six  dollars  a  dozen,  wholesale,  to  be 
retailed  at  nine  dollars.  To  provide  milk  for  his 
little  girl,  Mr.  Taylor  went  to  Sacramento  and  bought 
a  cow  for  two  hundred  dollars.  Before  this  he  had  been 
paying  a  dollar  a  quart,  and  this  was  supposed  to  be 
a  reduced  rate. 

As  we  have  seen,  for  seven  years  he  preached  in  the 
streets  and  elsewhere,  in  San  Francisco,  and  this  was 
the  beginning  of  an  active  career  of  missionary  en- 
deavor that  spread  over  many  lands,  carried  on  with 
characteristic  energy  for  over  fifty  years.  Whatever 
one  may  think  of  his  theology,  his  preaching  had  won- 
derful effect  in  bringing  men  to  see  the  folly  of  their 
evil  lives,  and  in  leading  them  into  paths  of  sobriety, 
honesty,  truth  and  religion.  Shortly  before  he  left 
California,  he  went  with  a  gentleman  and  his  wife 
and  two  children  for  a  holiday  in  the  mountains.  When 
Sunday  came  some  one  suggested  that  he  preach  to 
the  couple.  With  his  usual  directness,  fearlessness  and 
frankness,  and  his  avowed  principle  of  always  adapt- 
ing his  sermon  to  his  hearers,  he  gave  the  two  a  most 
searching  and  admonitory  address.  He  called  the 
wife's  attention  to  her  forgetfulness  of  former  religious 
professions,  and  censured  his  host  for  his  harsh 
speech  to  his  little  boy,  and  his  profanity.  At  the  close 
of  his  address  the  husband  grasped  him  by  the  hand  and 
remarked:  "I  thank  you  for  your  candor  and  your 
kindness." 

In  October,  1856,  he  and  his  family  returned  east, 
where  he  preached  for  three  years;  then  he  established 


STREET  -  PREACHING  HERO         153 

missions  in  Australia,  South  Africa,  India  and  South 
America.  In  1884  he  was  suddenly  and  unexpectedly 
made  Missionary  Bishop  of  Africa  for  the  Methodist 
Church,  and  continued  at  this  work  until  his  death. 


CHAPTER   XVIII 

THE    FEARLESS  CIVIC   HERO   OF  SAN   FRANCISCO,  JAMES 
KING    OF    WILLIAM 

"True  to  your  God,  you  were  to  your  country  true, 
And  we  will  love  God  more  for  knowing  you." 

THE  Vigilance  Committees  of  San  Francisco  have 
been  discussed  all  over  the  civilized  globe,  and  it 
is  well  that  young  Californians  should  have  a  clear 
idea  of  what  these  committees  were,  and  the  facts 
that  brought  them  into  existence.  In  the  appendix  will 
be  found  references  to  those  works  that  give  a  full 
history.  The  purpose  of  this  chapter  is  to  show 
the  heroism  of  the  life  of  James  King  of  William, 
whose  murder  caused  the  organization  of  the  most 
important  of  the  Vigilance  Committees,  viz.,  that  of 
1856. 

He  was  born  in  Georgetown,  District  of  Columbia,  on 
January  28, 1822.  When  a  young  man  "  he  assumed  the 
term  'of  William,'  which  was  found  to  be  necessary 
in  order  to  distinguish  him  from  a  number  of  other 
James  Kings  then  living  at  Georgetown.  William  was 
his  father's  name.  Some  men  distinguish  themselves 
from  others  of  the  same  name  by  using  the  word 
'  senior  '  or  '  junior  '  '  ist,'  '  2nd,'  and  so  on.  The 
same  end  was  attained  in  this  instance,  by  adopting  the 


JAMES   KING  OF   WILLIAM          155 

affix  '  of  William.'  It  is  a  custom  in  some  parts  of  the 
United  States,  and  particularly  in  Maryland,  thus  to 
take  the  father's  given  name  as  a  portion  of  the 
son's." 

He  had  an  elder  brother  who  was  a  member  of 
Fremont's  expedition  of  1846,  which  crossed  the  Rock- 
ies to  California,  and  who  was  with  his  second  expedi- 
tion of  1848.  This  brother  so  filled  the  mind  of  James 
King  with  glowing  pictures  of  the  future  possibilities 
of  the  land  by  the  Sunset  Sea  that  he  decided  to  emi- 
grate there.  This  was  before  gold  was  discovered 
and  while  California  was  still  an  integral  part  of 
Mexico.  Accordingly,  in  1848,  he  left  Washington 
for  New  York,  intending  to  set  sail  at  once.  While 
waiting  for  a  vessel  he  received  a  letter  from  his  brother 
which  intimated  the  change  of  government  which  had 
just  taken  place  and  is  interesting  reading: 

"  You  must  recollect  that  society  is  not  formed  yet 
properly  in  California,  and  as  the  population  in- 
creases they  will  gradually  form  laws,  adapted  to 
their  own  peculiar  circumstances.  I  think  it  would 
be  well  to  inform  yourself  of  the  situation  of  the  country 
and  of  the  rights  of  the  people,  for  as  soon  as  the  treaty 
is  ratified,  public  attention  there  will  be  at  once  turned 
to  the  establishment  of  a  civil  government.  ...  I 
think  it  would  be  best  to  invest  your  money,  or  a  portion 
of  it,  in  a  good  rancho,  and  if  you  can  purchase  Joachim 
Estrada's,  near  the  mission  of  San  Luis  Obispo, 
anyways  reasonable,  with  the  stock,  do  it  by  all  means. 
Only,  have  the  title  examined.  This  last  advice  I  give 
you  upon  the  supposition  that  you  would  like  an  agri- 


156  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

cultural  life.  If  you  can  buy  a  lot  or  a  few  yards  of  the 
Quicksilver  Mine,  you  had  better  do  it.  The  best  one 
is  about  six  miles  from  the  Pueblo  San  Jose",  near 
Mr.  Cooke's  rancho.  If  you  travel  by  land  between 
San  Francisco  and  Monterey,  you  will  pass  through 
San  Jose",  and  it  is  but  a  short  ride  to  the  mine.  Visit 
it  by  all  means,  if  you  are  in  the  neighborhood." 

He  left  New  York  on  May  24,  1848,  crossed  the 
Isthmus  of  Panama,  and  sailed  for  Valparaiso,  hoping 
there  to  find  a  vessel  going  to  California.  On  his  arrival 
he  found  Chile  excited  by  the  news  of  the  discovery 
of  gold.  Purchasing  some  goods,  he  hired  nine  Chilenos 
to  proceed  with  him  to  work  in  the  mines.  Upon  their 
arrival  in  San  Francisco,  six  of  his  workmen  deserted 
him.  He  and  the  other  three  at  once  hurried  to  Hang- 
town  (as  Placerville  was  then  called)  and  in  three  weeks 
time  secured  enough  gold  to  pay  for  his  goods  and 
his  expenses  from  Valparaiso.  Then  he  went  to  Sacra- 
mento and  engaged  for  awhile  in  business,  but,  as  he 
was  a  banker  by  training,  he  decided  to  go  East,  secure 
capital,  and  open  a  bank  in  San  Francisco,  which  he 
did  on  December  5,  1849.  He  was  a  man  of  sterling 
integrity,  and  soon  became  known  throughout  the 
whole  State,  doing  'a  large  and  thriving  business.  His 
wife  and  four  children  joined  him  in  1851,  and  his 
home  was  one  of  the  hospitable  mansions  of  the  new 
city. 

Owing  to  a  diversion  of  a  large  sum  of  money  which 
he  had  entrusted  to  one  of  his  agents  in  the  mines  for 
the  purchase  of  gold  dust,  he  became  saddled  with 
a  speculation.  This  distressed  him,  and  led  him  to 


JAMES   KING   OF   WILLIAM          157 

invest  more  than  he  felt  his  business  would  warrant, 
and  such  was  the  high  and  noble  principle  of  the 
man  that,  immediately  he  felt  in  the  slightest  degree 
insecure,  he  turned  over  everything  he  possessed, 
including  his  beautiful  home,  to  another  large  bank- 
ing firm,  on  their  undertaking  to  pay  in  full  all  his 
creditors. 

This  sensitiveness  of  honor  and  scrupulous  honesty 
added  to  the  high  esteem  in  which  he  was  already  held. 
For  it  must  be  remembered  that,  while  among  men  of 
honor  the  standard  of  business  morality  was  quite  as 
high  then  as  it  is  now,  the  public  sentiment  of  San 
Francisco  was  more  liable  to  be  a  variable  quantity. 
The  early  population  of  this  city  was  not  only  cosmo- 
politan, but  woefully  varied.  While  there  were  many 
men  of  the  highest  integrity  and  purest  life,  there  were, 
says  Hittell,  "  thieves  and  ruffians  from  all  parts  of  the 
world,  and  particularly  from  the  British  penal  colonies 
of  New  South  Wales  and  Van  Dieman's  Land."  This 
criminal  element  was  present  in  such  large  force  that 
"  outrages,  ever  increasing  in  atrocity,  were  committed 
by  them.  There  was  hardly  a  crime,  from  pocket- 
picking  to  murder,  that  was  not  common;  and  in  the 
presence  of  so  many  and  such  bold  desperadoes  no  one 
was  secure  of  his  property  or  even  of  his  life.  Thefts, 
robberies,  arsons,  and  assassinations  were  of  almost 
daily  occurrence,  and  of  late  months  (1851)  fearfully 
on  the  increase;  while  the  courts,  being  conducted 
by  judges  and  officers  who,  if  not  corrupt,  were  at  least 
inefficient,  afforded  no  relief." 

In  1849  the  city  had  been  cleared  of  notorious  ruf- 


158  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

fians,  but  in  1851  matters  were  again  so  bad  that  a 
Vigilance  Committee  was  organized,  and  another 
clearing  out  took  place. 

In  1853,  King  of  William  was  foreman  of  the  grand 
jury,  and  was  thus  publicly  called  upon  to  do  something 
to  suppress  the  moral  and  social  abominations  and  the 
political  corruptions  which  were  again  swamping  the 
community.  So  fearlessly  did  he  proceed  with  this 
work  that  his  name  became  a  synonym  for  courage, 
purity  and  integrity. 

Then  came  the  change  in  his  fortunes  and  the  transfer 
of  his  business.  A  little  later,  to  his  intense  distress, 
the  banking  firm  to  whom  the  transfer  had  been  made 
and  with  which  he  had  allied  himself,  as  well  as  other 
prominent  houses,  failed,  and  in  their  failure  brought 
the  usual  suffering  and  loss  to  many  others.  While  there 
has  never  been  the  slightest  doubt  in  the  minds  of  all 
best  qualified  to  know  that  King's  course  was  prompted 
by  the  highest  principles,  and  while  it  is  confessed 
that  not  a  single  person  lost  financially  through  him, 
it  can  well  be  understood  that  he  would  be  the  object 
of  attack  at  this  time.  His  replies  to  his  enemies  show 
a  frankness,  a  candor,  and  ingenuousness,  and  disposi- 
tion to  have  the  world  know  all  the  facts  that  are  abso- 
lutely incompatible  with  anything  but  unimpeachable 
integrity.  But,  as  a  necessary  consequence,  this  placed 
others  in  a  less  enviable  light,  and  one  of  these  — 
a  prominent  citizen,  by  name  Alfred  A.  Cohen  — 
felt  himself  aggrieved  by  what  King  had  both  written 
and  said.  Three  days  later  they  met  on  Montgomery 
Street,  and  in  the  encounter  that  took  place  Cohen 


JAMES    KING   OF   WILLIAM  159 

considered  himself  insulted.  That  afternoon  he  sent 
to  King,  by  the  hand  of  John  K.  Hackett,  a  challenge 
to  fight  a  duel.  To  this  challenge  Mr.  King  replied 
with  the  following  letter  in  the  newspapers,  a  letter 
that  should  be  well  digested  by  every  young  student 
of  the  history  of  moral  progress. 

"  SAN  FRANCISCO,  July  18,  1855. 

"  MR.  JOHN  K.  HACKETT, 

"  SIR:  I  now  proceed  to  give  you  my  reply  to  the 
note  you  handed  me  last  night.  At  first,  waiving  other 
insuperable  objections  to  the  mode  indicated  of  settling 
such  difficulties,  I  could  not  consent  to  a  hostile  meeting 
with  Mr.  Cohen.  The  public  have  already  been  fully 
advised  of  my  estimate  of  his  character.  The  relative 
positions  of  Mr.  Cohen  and  myself  are  entirely  unequal 
in  worldly  fortune,  and  domestic  relation.  He  is  un- 
derstood to  be  possessed  of  an  abundant  fortune.  In 
the  event  of  his  fall,  he  would  leave  ample  means  for 
the  support  of  his  wife  and  child.  Recent  events  have 
stripped  me  entirely  of  what  I  once  possessed.  Were  I 
to  fall,  I  should  leave  a  large  family  without  the  means 
of  support.  My  duties  and  obligations  to  my  family 
have  much  more  weight  with  me  than  any  desire  to 
please  Mr.  Cohen  or  his  friends  in  the  manner  pro- 
posed. I  have  ever  been  opposed  to  duelling  on  moral 
grounds.  My  opinions  were  known  to  Mr.  Cohen,  and 
when  he  addressed  me  the  note  which  you  had  the 
impudence  to  deliver,  he  was  well  aware  that  it  would 
not  be  accepted  or  answered  affirmatively.  That  fact 
is  sufficient  to  demonstrate  his  contemptible  cowardice 


i6o  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

in   this   silly   attempt   to   manufacture   for   himself   a 
reputation  for  '  chivalry.' 

"  Whilst  nothing  could  induce  me  to  change  my 
principles  upon  the  subject  of  duelling,  my  conscience 
is  perfectly  easy  as  to  my  right  and  the  propriety  of 
defending  myself  should  I  be  assaulted. 

"  Do  not  flatter  yourself,  sir,  that  this  communi- 
cation is  made  out  of  regard  either  to  yourself  or  to  Mr. 
Cohen.  I  write  this  for  publication  in  the  newspapers. 
I  avow  principles  of  which  I  am  not  ashamed,  and 
shall  abide  the  result. 

"  JAMES  KING  OF  WM." 

Here  was  the  gauntlet  flung  with  dignity  and  power 
in  the  very  face  of  the  "  chivalry."  It  was  the  first 
time  in  the  history  of  California  that  any  one  had  had 
the  moral  courage  to  refuse  to  fight  a  duel  when  chal- 
lenged. Expressions  of  sympathy  and  gratification 
at  Mr.  King's  course  at  once  began  to  pour  in  upon 
him,  among  others  the  following,  signed  by  seventy 
of  the  most  prominent  and  honored  men  of  the  city: 

"  Your  fellow  citizens,  whose  names  are  subscribed 
to  this  letter,  desire  to  express  to  you  their  admiration 
of  the  moral  courage  and  sound  principle  manifested 
in  your  refusal  to  accept  the  challenge  of  Mr.  Cohen  to 
meet  him  in  a  duel.  We  believe  that  the  so-called 
code  of  honor  which  requires  all  who  consent  to  be 
governed  by  it  to  submit  every  injury,  insult,  misrepre- 
sentation or  misunderstanding  to  the  decision  of  the 
pistol  or  the  knife,  and  to  be  in  violation  of  the  law 


JAMES    KING   OF   WILLIAM  161 

of  God,  and  of  the  laws  of  this  State,  and  of  those 
sacred  obligations  which  a  man  owes  to  his  family, 
his  relatives  and  dependents,  and  to  society. 

"  We  are  convinced  that  if  an  expression  of  the  senti- 
ment of  this  community  could  be  had  upon  this  subject, 
a  very  large  majority  would  be  found  to  view  with  ab- 
horrence the  risking  of  life  for  insufficient  cause,  and 
often  upon  a  mere  punctilio;  and  that  we  express  the 
feeling  common  to  them,  as  well  as  ourselves,  when  we 
thank  you  for  the  bold,  manly  and  uncompromising 
manner  in  which  you  have  refused  to  sanction  the 
practice.  With  the  expression  of  an  earnest  hope, 
that  if  no  higher  principle  should  govern  our  fellow 
citizens,  a  regard  for  their  interest  may  soon  induce 
them  to  see  to  it  that  good  laws  well  administered 
shall  in  future  save  us  from  violence  and  bloodshed; 
and  with  assurances  of  our  high  esteem  and  regard, 
we  remain, 

"  Your  obedient  servants." 

Hittell  says:  "  King's  stand  upon  the  subject  (of 
duelling),  on  account  of  its  accordance  with  the  law 
and  its  being  recognized  as  dictated  by  enlightened 
principle,  was  considered  as  doing  him  great  credit, 
and  gained  him  very  great  applause.  Nearly  all  the 
newspapers  of  the  day  heartily  praised  it;  and  no  one 
dared  openly  to  disapprove  obedience  to  the  constitu- 
tion and  statutes.  Though  some  duels  have  since  taken 
place  and  some  men  still  adhere  or  profess  to  adhere 
to  the  code,  few  or  no  duels  between  otherwise  respect- 
able men  have  taken  place  for  a  number  of  years;  and 


162  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

James  King  of  William,  more  than  any  other  man,  is 
entitled  to  the  praise  of  having  started  the  movement 
that  put  a  stop  to  the  barbarous  practice." 

We  now  come  to  the  part  James  King  of  William 
played  in  exposing  municipal  corruption,  his  assassina- 
tion, and  the  resulting  formation  of  the  great  Vigilance 
Committee  of  1856. 

Owing  to  his  financial  troubles  and  those  of  the 
firm  of  Adams  and  Company,  he  was  called  upon  to 
make  several  defences  and  explanations  in  the  public 
papers.  "  His  success  in  these  and  a  consideration  of 
the  effect  produced  by  his  plain,  direct,  incisive,  Anglo- 
Saxon  sentences  upon  the  public  mind  seem  to  have 
suggested  to  himself  and  some  of  his  friends  the  feasi- 
bility of  starting  a  newspaper.  Accordingly  he  made 
the  proper  arrangements,  and  on  the  evening  of  Monday, 
October  8,  1855,  issued  the  first  number  of  the  Daily 
Evening  Bulletin,  a  small  sheet  of  four  pages,  ten  by 
fifteen  inches  in  size.  In  his  salutatory,  he  said  that 
necessity,  not  choice,  had  driven  him  to  the  experiment, 
and  that  no  one  could  be  more  fully  sensible  than  him- 
self of  the  folly  of  a  newspaper  enterprise  as  an  invest- 
ment of  money.  "  But,"  he  continued,  "  we  invest  no 
money  of  our  own  (for  we  have  none) ;  and  only  a  few 
hundred  dollars,  generously  advanced  us  by  a  few 
friends,  is  all  that  we  have  risked  in  the  enterprise. 
If  successful,  we  shall  be  able  to  feed,  clothe  and  shelter 
our  family  in  San  Francisco,  where  the  school  facili- 
ties are  such  as  in  justice  to  those  who  have  claims  upon 
us,  we  are  unwilling  to  forego." 

Then  began  a  series  of  attacks  of  the  most  fearless, 


JAMES   KING   OF   WILLIAM          163 

direct,  open  and  manly  character  upon  every  person, 
firm,  institution,  judge,  senator,  congressman,  called 
by  name,  whom  he  regarded  as  guilty  of  dishonest, 
corrupt,  wicked  or  fraudulent  acts.  He  spared  no  one. 
"  His  language  was  not  choice,  nor  his  denunciations 
as  well  rounded  and  rhetorical  as  they  might  have 
been!  But  he  was  an  honest  man,  a  true  patriot,  and 
deadly  in  earnest  to  save  the  city  and  State  he  loved 
from  being  made  the  playthings  of  corrupt  men,  who 
desired  nothing  but  their  own  unholy  gain  and  ambi- 
tions." 

The  result  was  the  people  had  faith  in  him,  and  his 
paper  bounded  into  a  success  and  popularity  that  was 
as  instantaneous  as  it  was  remarkable.  As  stated  by 
himself:  "  Would  the  San  Francisco  public  sustain  a 
truly  independent  journal  —  one  that  would  support 
the  cause  of  morality,  virtue  and  honesty,  whether 
in  public  service  or  private  life,  and  which,  regardless 
of  all  conseqences,  would  fearlessly  and  undauntedly 
maintain  its  course  against  the  political  and  social  evils 
of  the  day?" 

"  The  answer  Yes!  was  soon  and  loudly  made,  and 
enthusiastically  echoed  from  every  town  and  mining 
camp  in  the  country." 

"A  notorious  and  professed  banking  house,  but  which 
was  virtually  a  political  institution  (that  of  Palmer, 
Cook  and  Co.),  that  had  long  overridden  the  constitu- 
tion, and  made  and  unmade  —  against  the  will  of  the 
people,  and  by  the  most  disreputable  means  —  nearly 
every  officer  of  the  city  and  State,  was  assailed  by  the 
Bulletin  in  regular  form;  and  its  corruption,  its  inso- 


i64  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

lent  and  dangerous  usurpation,  and  at  the  same  time  its 
inherent  weakness,  exposed.  The  wrongers  and  swin- 
dlers of  the  unfortunate  creditors  of  Adams  and  Com- 
pany (the  bankers  with  whom  he  had  been  connected), 
were  pitilessly  attacked  and  held  up  to  the  scorn  and 
detestation  of  the  people.  The  demoralizing  system 
of  bestowing  Federal,  State  and  city  appointments 
chiefly  on  professional  gamblers,  duellists,  rowdies  and 
assassins  —  on  the  debauched,  illiterate,  idle,  criminal, 
and  most  dangerous  class  of  the  mixed  population  of 
the  country  —  was  forcibly  pointed  out  and  indig- 
nantly condemned.  A  high  standard  of  honesty  was 
laid  down  for  all  public  men.  The  law's  cruel  delay, 
the  baseness  and  corruption  of  its  ministers,  the  dis- 
honorable professional  conduct  of  leading  pleaders 
in  the  courts,  all  were  made  plain  to  the  honest  and 
unsuspecting,  and  properly  stigmatized.  In  short, 
the  glaring  evils  of  the  body  politic,  the  denial  and 
perversion  of  justice,  and  the  unworthy  personal  char- 
acter and  incapability  of  the  general  class  of  men  who 
held  office,  or  who  were  connected  with  the  courts  of 
law,  were  loudly  and  unsparingly  denounced.  Mr. 
King  did  not  waste  his  energies  by  uttering  smooth, 
general  homilies  on  evil  doings;  he  struck  directly 
at  the  evil-doer.  If  a  man  whose  conduct  required  to 
be  publicly  exposed  were  really  a  swindler,  a  gambler, 
or  a  duellist,  a  common  cheat,  a  corrupt  judge,  or  a 
political  trickster,  the  Bulletin,  standing  alone  in  this 
respect  among  the  timid,  time-serving,  or  bribed  city 
press,  dared  so  to  style  him.  But  not  only  did  Mr. 
King,  in  his  paper,  expose  scoundrelism,  vice  and  crime, 


JAMES    KING   OF   WILLIAM  165 

and  smite  their  votaries  wherever  he  detected  them; 
he  also  endeavored,  and  not  in  vain,  to  aid  in  whatever 
could  restore  and  strengthen  the  moral  tone  of  society. 
He  urged  the  decent  observance  of  the  Sabbath;  he 
recalled  public  attention  to  the  plainest  and  most 
necessary  dictates  of  religion;  he  encouraged  the  es- 
tablishment of  public  schools,  and  dwelt  on  the  bless- 
ings of  a  sound  and  liberal  education;  he  frowned  on 
gambling,  duelling,  and  wilful  idleness;  he  sought  to 
soothe  and  reinspire  the  desponding  who  had  the  desire 
but  lacked  the  opportunity,  and  especially  the  energy 
and  perseverance,  to  earn  a  living  by  the  sweat  of  their 
brow;  he  strove  to  free  the  city  from  the  unblushing 
presence  of  the  lewd  who  had  so  long  assumed  inso- 
lently to  follow,  if  not  often  to  lead,  the  virtuous  and 
decent  portion  of  the  community.  The  political  knave, 
the  dishonest  office-holder,  the  gambler,  swindler, 
loafer,  and  duellist,  the  base  class  of  lawyers  • —  in 
brief,  the  vicious,  lewd  and  criminal  of  every  kind,  were 
in  consternation;  their  unhallowed  practice  and  gains 
were  disappearing." 

Hittell  declares:  "  No  such  newspaper,  or  anything 
like  it,  had  appeared  in  the  city  or  country,  and  per- 
haps not  in  any  other  country  before.  It  was  an  ideal 
fighting  journal.  It  was  heroic.  Whatever  might  be 
its  mistakes  and  its  errors,  it  was  sincere  and  it  meant 
right.  ...  It  was  exactly  what  the  people  wanted  and 
they  responded  unreservedly.  In  the  fearful  condition 
of  public  affairs,  with  fraud  and  corruption  and  crime 
and  immorality  of  every  kind  and  nature  on  every 
side,  it  formed  a  rallying  point,  towards  which  all  the 


i66          HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

elements  of  law,  order,  honesty,  and  integrity  could 
converge,  and  around  which  they  could  arrange  them- 
selves." 

Things  thus  continued  until  on  Saturday  evening, 
November  17,  only  a  little  more  than  a  month  after 
the  Bulletin  was  started,  the  city  was  startled  by  the 
cowardly  assassination  of  William  H.  Richardson, 
United  States  marshal  for  the  district  of  California, 
by  a  gambler  named  Charles  Cora.  It  cannot  be  denied 
that  Richardson  was  not  altogether  an  ornament  to 
his  high  office,  but  the  murder  was  so  flagrant,  so 
cowardly,  so  despicable,  that  public  feeling  ran  high, 
and  there  was  an  instant  demand  that  the  city  officials 
do  their  duty. 

But  Cora  had  protectors  of  financial  strength  in  the 
class  to  which  he  belonged,  and  also  in  the  fact  that 
a  dissolute  woman  of  great  wealth  was  his  paramour. 
It  soon  became  rumored  that  the  most  eloquent  and 
able  lawyers  had  been  retained  in  his  defense,  and  also 
that  a  corruption  fund  had  been  raised.  At  this, 
King's  voice  rang  out  clear.  He  demanded  a  full  trial 
and  a  speedy  one,  and  that  if  the  officials  failed  in  their 
duty  the  people  should  arise  again  in  their  majesty 
as  the  source  of  political  power  and  with  full  observ- 
ance of  justice  duly  try  and  punish  these  recreants  and 
betrayers  of  the  public  trust.  He  mentioned  the  keeper 
of  the  city  jail  and  the  sheriff  by  name,  and  placed  the 
responsibility  for  the  murderer's  safe-keeping  where 
it  belonged. 

The  trial  was  had,  the  facts  of  the  murder  were  clearly 
established,  yet,  as  the  public  anticipated,  the  jury 


JAMES   KING   OF   WILLIAM          167 

was  hung,  seven  voting  for  a  verdict  of  murder,  one 
for  manslaughter,  and  four  for  acquittal.  The  Bulletin 
that  afternoon  came  out  with  a  terrific  onslaught  on 
the  disreputable  element,  on  trickery  of  the  law,  and 
the  veniality  of  the  lawyers.  Day  after  day,  his  sledge- 
hammer blows  continued.  People  who  professed  to 
despise  his  paper,  who  had  cause  for  fear,  were  in 
hourly  dread  lest  their  misdeeds  should  be  made  known. 
King  became  the  most  powerful  man  in  the  State, 
because  of  his  simple,  direct,  unpurchasable  honesty, 
his  fearlessness  and  his  determination  to  expose  those 
who  were  ruining  the  city  he  loved. 

There  was  but  one  result  to  be  anticipated.  Even 
in  our  day,  with  all  the  officials  of  our  large  cities 
ostensibly  enrolled  on  the  side  of  the  cause  of  civic 
righteousness,  it  would  be  dangerous  for  a  man  to 
call  by  name  those  who  were  in  high  position  and  en- 
gaged in  criminal  or  immoral  pursuits.  Whether  a 
conspiracy  was  formed,  as  was  alleged,  or  not,  there 
is  no  doubt  but  that  the  forces  of  evil  combined  and 
it  was  determined  to  "  put  King  out  of  the  way."  The 
occasion  arose  four  months  later,  when  King  opposed 
the  appointment  of  one  Bagley  to  the  position  in  the 
United  States  Custom-house,  on  the  ground  that  he 
had,  shortly  before,  engaged  in  a  pistol  fight  with  James 
P.  Casey,  one  of  the  supervisors.  But  while  Bagley 
was  attacked,  Casey  was  not  spared,  for  the  editorial 
continued  (and  it  must  be  remembered  that  King's 
statements  were  true) :  "  It  does  not  matter  how 
bad  a  man  Casey  has  been,  nor  how  much  benefit  it 
might  be  to  the  public  to  have  him  out  of  the  way,  we 


i68  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

cannot  accord  to  any  one  citizen  the  right  to  kill  him, 
or  even  beat  him,  without  justifiable  personal  provo- 
cation. The  fact  that  Casey  has  been  an  inmate  of 
Sing  Sing  prison  in  New  York  is  no  offense  against  the 
laws  of  this  State;  nor  is  the  fact  of  his  having  stuffed 
himself  through  the  ballot-box,  as  elected  to  the  board 
of  supervisors  from  a  district  where  it  is  said  he  was 
not  even  a  candidate,  any  justification  why  Mr.  Bagley 
should  shoot  Casey,  however  richly  the  latter  many 
deserve  having  his  neck  stretched  for  such  fraud  on 
the  people." 

The  upshot  of  this  attack  on  Casey  was  that,  after 
an  interview  between  himself  and  King,  when  the 
latter  ordered  him  out  of  his  office,  Casey  shot  him 
with  the  same  cold-blooded  deliberation  that  Cora  had 
displayed  in  the  murder  of  Richardson.  For  while 
King  lingered  six  days,  it  was  feared  that  his  wound 
was  fatal.  This  murder  drove  the  city  wild.  The 
populace  was  now  aroused,  and  woe  betide  any  lawyer 
or  official  or  judge  who  would  dare,  in  the  slightest, 
to  obstruct  the  path  of  speedy  justice.  King  was  still 
in  the  hands  of  the  physicians,  when  it  was  quietly 
rumored  that  the  call  for  the  gathering  of  the  Vigilance 
Committee  had  been  sent  out.  This  rumor  was  prema- 
ture, but  it  was  made  a  fact  the  following  day.  The 
next  few  days  saw  the  committee  reenrolled,  fully 
organized  in  companies  of  one  hundred,  well-armed, 
in  perfect  control  and  under  efficient  leadership,  and 
on  the  following  Sunday  morning,  at  noon,  San  Fran- 
cisco witnessed  the  quiet  and  orderly  assembling  of 
several  companies  of  the  Vigilantes,  who,  at  a  given 


JAMES   KING  OF   WILLIAM          169 

moment,  silently  and  solemnly  marched  to  the  old 
Broadway  jail  under  the  shadow  of  Telegraph  Hill. 
"  They  came  together,"  says  Hittell,  "  with  admirable, 
almost  mathematical  precision;  and,  as  they  fell  into 
position,  they  of  course  understood  what  was  intended. 
It  was  an  extraordinary  spectacle.  The  whole  place  was 
closely  invested  by  armed  men,  not  indeed  in  uniform, 
but  with  muskets  and  bayonets  flashing  in  the  brilliant 
sunlight.  Some  few  had  hunting  rifles  or  shot-guns, 
and  one  tall  Nantucket  whaleman,  besides  a  navy 
revolver  in  his  belt,  carried  a  harpoon  and  several 
fathoms  of  rope  on  his  shoulder.  Around  and,  as  it 
were,  hemming  in  all,  crowding  the  streets,  covering 
the  summit  and  vacant  slopes  of  Telegraph  Hill  and 
the  neighboring  roofs,  and  filling  the  porticoes  and 
windows,  were  dense  masses  of  people,  eager  to  see 
what  was  to  be  done,  and  hushed  in  expectation." 

The  leaders  of  the  Vigilantes  demanded  from  Sheriff 
Scannell  the  surrender  of  the  jail,  and  also  the  persons 
of  the  two  prisoners,  —  Cora  (who  was  being  held  for 
a  new  trial)  and  Casey.  In  due  time  they  were  both 
forthcoming,  and  were  lodged  in  an  impromptu  jail 
provided  by  the  Vigilance  Committee  at  their  head- 
quarters. 

The  day  of  Cora's  trial  was  set  for  Tuesday,  the 
2oth  of  May,  and  soon  after  it  began  the  marshal  an- 
nounced the  death  of  King,  which  had  just  occurred. 
Cora  was  found  guilty.  Then  Casey's  trial  took  place, 
with  the  same  result.  Both  men  were  sentenced  to 
death,  and,  on  Thursday,  the  twenty-second,  at  the 
time  King's  funeral  was  taking  place,  Cora  and  Casey 


170  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

were  hanged  at  the  Vigilance  Headquarters  on  Sacra- 
mento Street.  King  was  buried  at  Lone  Mountain, 
while  Cora  and  Casey  were  both  entombed  in  the  old 
Mission  Dolores  Cemetery,  where  their  elaborate 
tombstones  are  still  objects  of  interest  to  the  curious. 

King  was  dead,  but  his  memory  still  lives,  and 
though  corruption  has  since  flourished  in  the  city  for 
which  he  gave  his  life,  there  can  be  no  question  but 
that  the  good  he  accomplished  has  continued  to  seed 
and  will  in  the  years  yet  to  come  bring  forth  good  fruit. 


CHAPTER   XIX 

THE   ELOQUENT  HERO   OF  PATRIOTISM,   THOMAS   STARR 
KING 

IT  will  be  difficult  for  almost  every  young  reader 
of  this  sketch  of  Thomas  Starr  King  to  realize 
to  the  full  the  significance  of  the  statement  that,  during 
our  Civil  War,  this  Unitarian  clergyman  was,  without 
question,  the  foremost  citizen  of  California.  To  under- 
stand this  term  aright,  even  in  a  limited  measure,  it 
is  necessary  to  make  clear  the  condition  California  was 
in  at  the  dawn  of  the  rebellion.  There  was  a  large 
Southern  population,  and  some  of  the  important  offices 
were  held  by  open  Southern  sympathizers.  Prior  to 
1860  it  might  be  said  with  truth  that  a  large  number  of 
Californians  were  in  favor  of  slavery  and  Southern 
principles  in  general.  In  the  presidential  campaign  of 
1860  John  B.  Weller  delivered  a  speech  for  the  Breck- 
enridge,  or  so-called  "  chivalry  "  Democrats,  in  which 
he  said:  "I  do  not  know  whether  Lincoln  will  be 
elected  or  not,  but  I  do  know  that,  if  he  is  elected  and 
if  he  attempts  to  carry  out  his  doctrines,  the  South  will 
surely  withdraw  from  the  Union.  And  I  should  con- 
sider them  less  than  men  if  they  did  not." 

The  Democrats  of  the  State  were  widely  divided 
in  the  1860  election,  but  there  can  be  little  doubt  that, 
had  they  stood  together,  they  would  have  carried  the 


172  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

State  by  an  overwhelming  majority,  the  combined  vote 
of  the  two  sections  of  the  party  totalling  about  seventy- 
two  thousand,  while  the  Republican  vote  was  only 
about  thirty-nine  thousand.  And  had  the  State  had  a 
Democratic  governor  and  officials,  there  is  no  knowing 
what  a  struggle  the  loyalists  would  have  had  thrust 
upon  them.  As  it  was,  the  fight  was  sharp  and  severe, 
for  while  Governor  Downey  was  a  professed  Unionist, 
he  was  "  still  hampered  with  old-time  doctrines  when 
slavery  ruled  unquestioned,  and  he  did  not  receive  and 
welcome  soon  enough  the  new  light  of  freedom  which 
had  arisen  in  the  land."  The  military  commander  of 
the  Department  of  California  was  Brigadier- General 
Albert  Sidney  Johnston,  a  native  of  Kentucky,  and  a 
strong  Southern  champion.  But  he  was  relieved  in 
favor  of  a  Union  general,  went  immediately  South, 
and  was  killed  while  leading  the  secession  army  at  the 
battle  of  Shiloh.  Yet  in  July,  1861,  —  over  three 
months  after  Fort  Sumter  had  been  fired  upon,  and 
the  war  was  fairly  begun,  —  a  prominent  lawyer  named 
Edmund  Randolph,  who  had  been  thought  to  be  a 
staunch  Unionist,  made  a  speech  at  a  Democratic 
convention  in  Sacramento  in  which  he  said:  "  My 
thoughts  and  my  heart  are  not  here  to-night  in  this 
house.  Far  to  the  east,  hi  the  homes  from  which  we 
came,  tyranny  and  usurpation,  with  arms  in  its  hands, 
is  this  night,  perhaps,  slaughtering  our  fathers,  our 
brothers,  and  our  sisters,  and  outraging  our  homes  in 
every  conceivable  way  shocking  to  the  heart  of  humanity 
and  freedom.  To  me  it  seems  a  waste  of  time  to  talk. 
For  God's  sake,  tell  me  of  battles  fought  and  won. 


cc 
2 


JAMES    CAPEN   ADAMS,   FROM   AN    OLD    WOODCUT. 


Page  1&) 


THOMAS  STARR  KING  173 

Tell  me  of  usurpers  overthrown;  that  Missouri  is 
again  a  free  State,  no  longer  crushed  under  the  armed 
heel  of  a  reckless  and  odious  despot.  Tell  me  that 
the  State  of  Maryland  lives  again;  and  oh!  let  us  read, 
let  us  hear,  at  the  first  moment,  that  not  one  hostile  foot 
now  treads  the  soil  of  Virginia!  If  this  be  rebellion, 
then  I  am  a  rebel.  Do  you  want  a  traitor  ?  Then  am  I 
a  traitor.  For  God's  sake,  speed  the  ball;  may  the 
lead  go  quick  to  his  heart,  and  may  our  country 
be  free  from  the  despot  usurper  that  now  claims  the 
name  of  President  of  the  United  States." 

Not  so  much  was  thought  or  said  of  this,  as  it  was 
put  down  to  the  extravagance  of  excitement,  but  when, 
the  following  month,  the  leading  Presbyterian  clergy- 
man of  San  Francisco,  who  had  come  from  New 
Orleans,  began  to  preach  secession  to  his  congrega- 
tion (in  which  were  many  Unionists  as  well  as  Southern 
sympathizers),  and  to  pray  for  "  presidents  and  vice- 
presidents,"  the  city  and  State  were  up  in  arms. 

Out  over  the  tumult  of  the  city  at  once  was  heard  a 
trumpet  call  to  duty  that  thrilled  every  heart.  It  was 
a  comparatively  new  voice  in  California,  and  that  of  a 
man  only  about  thirty-five  years  of  age,  yet  it  had  al- 
ready been  heard  by  delighted  thousands  on  various 
topics  of  spiritual  and  ethical  value.  It  was  that  of 
Thomas  Starr  King.  He  had  already  clearly  shown 
his  position  in  regard  to  the  rebellion  by  lectures  on 
Washington,  Daniel  Webster  and  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States,  Lexington  and  Concord,  and  by  preach- 
ing a  rousingly  patriotic  sermon  entitled  "  The  Great 
Uprising."  In  this  sermon,  "  after  emphatically  de- 


174  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

claring  that  it  is  the  duty  of  a  Christian  minister  to 
feel  no  personal  animosity  to  any  human  being,  he 
distinguished  between  a  wrong  done  to  himself  and  a 
wrong  done  to  the  community.  He  illustrated  the 
distinction  in  this  reference  to  the  President  of  the 
Confederate  States:  '  He  is  a  representative  to  my  soul 
of  a  force  of  evil.  His  cause  is  pollution  and  a  horror. 
His  banner  is  a  black  flag.  I  could  pray  for  him  as 
one  man,  a  brother  man,  in  his  private,  affectional, 
and  spiritual  relations  to  heaven.  But  as  President 
of  the  seceding  States,  head  of  brigand  forces,  organic 
representative  of  the  powers  of  destruction  within  our 
country, — pray  for  him!  —  as  soon  for  Antichrist! 
Never! '  It  would,  he  added,  be  as  incongruous  for 
him  as  he  prayed  for  Abraham  Lincoln,  as  it  would  be 
for  an  English  churchman,  during  the  Sepoy  rebellion, 
to  have  prayed  for  Queen  Victoria  and  Nana  Sahib 
in  the  same  breath."  The  close  of  his  sermon  solemnly 
echoed  the  tone  that  rang  through  the  paragraphs 
preceding  it:  "  God  bless  the  President  of  the  United 
States,  and  all  who  serve  with  him  the  cause  of  a  common 
country!  God  grant  the  blessing  of  repentance  and 
return  to  allegiance  to  all  our  enemies,  even  the  traitors 
in  their  high  places!  God  preserve  from  defeat  and 
disgrace  the  sacred  flag  of  our  fathers!  God  give  us 
all  the  spirit  of  service  and  sacrifice  in  a  righteous 
cause!  " 

The  effect  of  such  clean-cut,  direct  patriotism  was 
soon  felt,  not  only  in  San  Francisco  and  the  State  of 
California,  but  throughout  the  whole  nation.  In  Cali- 
fornia, besides  the  large  number  friendly  to  the  South, 


THOMAS  STARR  KING  175 

and  the  Unionists,  there  was  a  considerable  army  of 
the  timid,  the  lukewarm,  the  "  temporizers,"  —  those 
who  doubted  the  wisdom  or  prudence  of  using  force 
against  the  rebels. 

To  convince  these  of  their  duty  to  the  Union  became 
Starr  King's  passion,  and  he  went  up  and  down  the 
State,  into  cities,  towns,  lumber  and  mining  camps, 
agricultural  settlements,  tiny  villages  and  hamlets, 
anywhere,  everywhere  he  could  secure  an  audience, 
and  cried  aloud  his  message  of  patriotism  and  loyalty. 
In  the  words  of  a  former  president  of  the  State  Univer- 
sity, his  own  son-in-law,  Horace  Davis:  "  His  power 
and  influence  were  soon  felt,  and  strong  measures 
were  used  to  force  him  out  of  the  field.  He  received 
anonymous  letters  hinting  at  assassination.  He  was 
openly  threatened  with  personal  violence,  and  pistols 
were  actually  drawn  on  him  in  rude  interior  camps; 
but  no  persuasion,  either  of  love  or  fear,  could  turn 
him  from  what  he  deemed  his  high  privilege  of  defend- 
big  his  country." 

After  the  elections  had  made  all  secure  as  far  as 
official  loyalty  was  concerned,  he  set  forth  with  equal 
earnestness,  vigor  and  eloquence  to  call  upon  the  people 
of  his  adopted  State  to  give  real  and  practical,  visible  and 
tangible  help  to  the  cause,  as  well  as  their  sympathy. 
The  East  was  sending  men  and  money.  California 
was  sending  neither.  He  cried:  "If  the  government 
thinks  it  best  not  to  call  on  us  for  men,  we  can  at  least 
send  our  money  for  the  wounded,  the  sick  and  the 
suffering." 

In  Mr.   Davis's  words:    "  Mr.  King  entered  into 


176  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

his  movement  with  intense  energy,  for  it  appealed  to 
his  whole  nature.  ...  He  traversed  the  State  in  its 
length  and  breadth,  appealing  to  their  love  of  country 
and  their  pity  for  the  sick  and  wounded  soldiers,  or- 
ganizing committees  everywhere  to  carry  on  the  work, 
over  the  Siskiyou  Mountains  by  stage  into  Oregon, 
and  on  north  to  Puget  Sound  and  Vancouver's  Island. 
You  know  the  result,  the  inestimable  mercies  and 
comforts  that  came  to  our  soldiers  from  these  gifts. 
The  Pacific  Coast  gave  nearly  one  and  a  half  million 
dollars;  and  its  gifts  came  at  the  most  critical  period, 
when  they  could  do  the  greatest  good. 

"  The  money  thus  raised  was  the  '  Sanitary  Fund,' 
supplying  the  '  ammunition '  for  the  work  of  the 
Sanitary  Commission,  which  cared  for  the  sick  and 
wounded  soldiers  and  their  wives  and  children;  and 
California  and  the  Pacific  Coast,  aroused  by  Starr 
King's  stirring  eloquence,  raised  for  this  work  almost 
as  much  as  the  rest  of  the  United  States  combined. 
He  showed  us  it  was  our  duty  to  do  this,  owing  to  our 
not  sending  any  soldiers  to  participate  actively  in  the 
conflict." 

At-  his  death,  one  of  our  California  poets  and  phil- 
osophers, James  Linen,  thus  wrote:  "  Although  physi- 
cally weak,  Thomas  Starr  King  was  mentally  strong, 
and  the  deep-toned  thunders  of  his  voice  made  the 
formidable  fabric  of  political  corruption  tremble  to  its 
base.  No  man  could  wield  intellectual  weapons  more 
vigorously,  or  like  him  carry  by  storm  the  convictions 
of  an  audience.  By  his  warm  and  powerful  appeals, 
stubborn  prejudice  melted  away.  His  was  never  a 


THOMAS  STARR  KING  177 

puerile  conflict,  but  a  battle  of  moral  strength.  It 
was  a  warfare  enlisted  on  the  side  of  grand  patriotic 
principles,  which  he  proudly  refused  to  compromise. 
His  glowing  eloquence  threw  a  charm  and  splendor  over 
all  his  controversies.  His  mind  was  liberal  and  com- 
prehensive. Free  from  arrogance  and  pride,  he  was 
affable  and  courteous  in  his  manner.  He  was  plain 
in  appearance  and  gentle  as  a  lamb  among  his  friends. 
He  was  terrible,  however,  in  his  grand  philippics 
against  rebels  and  the  abettors  of  treason.  Viewing 
slavery  as  a  moral,  withering  evil,  an  enemy  of  free 
institutions,  and  the  cause  of  all  his  country's  troubles, 
he  sought  its  overthrow  as  a  national  curse,  and  con- 
sequently directed  all  the  energies  of  his  mental  power 
against  the  demoralizing  system.  He  loved  his  country, 
and  glorified  in  its  starry  flag,  which  gives  assurance  of 
protection  to  millions. 

"  No  one  could  question  the  lofty  purity  of  his  pa- 
triotism. While  he  regretted  the  existing  rebellion, 
he  nobly  advocated  its  speedy  repression.  His  warmest 
sympathies  were  with  the  sacred  cause  of  freedom, 
which  he  looked  upon  as  the  cause  of  God.  His  feelings 
were  entirely  on  the  side  of  Liberty  and  her  brave  de- 
fenders, the  gallant  soldiers  of  the  North." 

Tireless  in  his  efforts,  sparing  not  himself  in  the  great 
cause  that  was  so  dear  to  his  heart,  his  feeble  body  felt 
the  fearful  strain.  As  one  of  his  Eastern  friends  wrote : 

"  The  soul  of  this  Christian  patriot  seemed  to  kindle 
into  an  ever- increasing  blaze  with  the  fuel  which  the 
events  of  the  war  supplied,  and  it  constantly  broadened 
as  it  blazed.  Indeed,  the  only  question  started  by 


1 78  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

his  admiring  friends  was  this:  How  long  will  this  un- 
wearied inward  fire  continue  before  it  begins  to  con- 
sume the  frail  body  which  contains  it  ?  " 

It  was  not  long  before  the  question  was  answered. 
Attacked  by  a  throat  disease,  supposed  to  have  been 
diphtheria,  he  was  carried  away  so  rapidly  that  his 
physician,  when  the  distinguished  patient  demanded  to 
know  his  condition,  was  compelled  to  answer  that  he 
did  not  think  he  could  live  another  half  hour.  With 
bravery  and  calmness  he  heard  this  death-sentence, 
dictated  and  signed  his  will,  sent  messages  to  his  East- 
ern friends,  bade  a  loving  adieu  to  his  loved  ones, 
and  quietly  and  fearlessly  took  the  hand  of  Death, 
and  went  into  the  presence  of  God. 

The  Rev.  William  D.  Simonds  thus  tersely  states 
the  effect  of  his  life  upon  his  own  and  succeeding  gen- 
erations: "  Scarcely  forty  years  of  age,  a  Calif ornian 
only  from  1860  to  1864,  he  had  in  this  brief  period 
so  won  the  hearts  of  men  that  in  honor  of  his  funeral 
the  legislature  and  all  the  courts  adjourned,  the  na- 
tional authorities  fired  minute  guns  in  the  bay,  while 
all  the  flags  hi  the  city  of  San  Francisco  and  on  the 
ships  hung  at  half-mast.  How  Californians  loved  this 
man  we  can  but  dimly  understand,  the  feeling  was  so 
tender,  strange  and  deep.  Men  of  the  most  diverse 
creeds,  agreeing  in  little  else,  were  united  in  calling 
Starr  King  the  '  Saint  of  the  Pacific  Coast.'  Not  all 
the  years  that  since  have  passed  —  years  so  fatal  to 
many  reputations  —  have  hidden  from  the  thought  of 
the  people  the  story  of  that  saintly  life.  One  of  the 
giant  sequoia  trees  of  the  Mariposa  Grove  bears  his 


THOMAS  STARR  KING  179 

name,  and  a  dome  of  the  High  Sierras  near  the  Yosem- 
ite  Valley  is  called  Mount  Starr  King.  Loving  hands 
have  made  his  grave  under  the  shadow  of  that  church 
which  is  his  monument,  and  Golden  Gate  Park  contains 
a  splendid  statue  of  the  preacher  and  patriot  —  the 
man  '  who  saved  California  to  the  Union.'  " 

WHITTIER    ON   THOMAS    STARR   KING 

"  The  great  work  laid  upon  his  two  score  years 
Is  done,  and  well  done.     If  we  drop  our  tears 
Who  loved  him  as  few  men  were  ever  loved, 
We  mourn  no  blighted  hope  nor  broken  plan 
With  him  whose  life  stands  rounded  and  approved 
In  the  full  growth  and  stature  of  a  man. 
Mingle,  O  bells,  along  the  western  slope, 
With  your  deep  toll  a  sound  of  faith  and  hope ! 
Wave  cheerily  still,  O  banner,  half-way  down, 
From  thousand-masted  bay  and  steepled  town  1 
Let  the  strong  organ  with  its  loftiest  swell 
Lift  the  proud  sorrow  of  the  land,  and  tell 
That  the  brave  sower  saw  his  ripened  grain. 
O  east  and  west,  O  morn  and  sunset,  twain 
No  more  forever  1  —  has  he  lived  in  vain 
Who,  priest  of  freedom,  made  ye  one,  and  told 
Your  bridal  service  from  his  lif e  of  gold." 


CHAPTER   XX 

THE  HEROIC  HUNTER  OF  GRIZZLY  BEARS,  JAMES  CAPEN 
ADAMS 

IN  the  early  '50*5  and  '6o's  one  of  the  picturesque 
figures  of  San  Francisco  was  James  Capen  Adams, 
well  known  over  the  whole  continent  as  hunter  and 
tamer  of  grizzly  bears,  who  had  taught  two  great 
grizzlies  to  carry  his  packs  for  him  when  he  went  on 
his  mountaineering  trips.  Indeed,  so  remarkable  were 
his  adventures,  that  Theodore  H.  Hittell,  one  of  Cali- 
fornia's historians,  wrote  a  dignified  book  of  nearly 
four  hundred  pages  giving  a  graphic  account  of  his 
experiences.  From  this  book  the  following  extracts 
are  made. 

Adams  was  born  in  Medway,  Massachusetts,  in  1807. 
He  was  whole-souled  in  whatever  he  undertook,  so 
when  he  grew  tired  of  shoe- making  and  engaged  himself 
to  capture  wild  animals  for  a  company  of  showmen,  he 
entered  into  his  new  enterprise  with  a  will.  While  still 
a  young  man,  the  rash  daring  of  his  character  revealed 
itself  in  his  determination  to  conquer  a  Bengal  tiger 
that  had  hitherto  proven  intractable.  After  entering 
its  cage  several  times,  he  began  to  pride  himself  upon  his 
success,  when  the  treacherous  creature  fell  upon  him, 
swept  him  to  the  ground  and  drove  his  teeth  and  claws 
into  him.  He  was  rescued  with  the  utmost  difficulty. 


JAMES   CAPEN   ADAMS  181 

This  disaster  put  a  stop  to  Adams's  hunting  for  some 
fifteen  or  more  years;  and  for  a  time  rendered  it  prob- 
lematical whether  he  would  ever  recover. 

When  the  California  gold  excitement  broke  out, 
Adams  joined  the  great  army  of  pioneers  and  reached 
the  Golden  State  by  way  of  Mexico  in  the  fall  of  1849. 
He  had  various  experiences,  until,  in  the  fall  of  1852, 
to  use  his  own  words,  "  disgusted  with  the  world  and 
dissatisfied  with  myself,  I  abandoned  all  my  schemes 
for  the  accumulation  of  wealth,  turned  my  back  upon 
the  society  of  my  fellows,  and  took  the  road  towards 
the  most  unfrequented  parts  of  the  Sierra  Nevada, 
resolved  henceforth  to  make  the  wilderness  my  home 
and  wild  beasts  my  companions." 

He  became  friendly  with  a  near  by  band  of  Indians, 
and  they  helped  him  in  various  ways,  showing  him  their 
method  of  tanning  the  skins  of  the  animals  he  shot. 
He  made  for  himself  a  complete  suit  of  buckskin,  and 
ever  after  this  was  his  costume.  When  the  Indians 
moved  down  the  river  to  avoid  the  winter,  Adams  re- 
mained alone,  and  for  months  he  did  not  see  a  human 
being.  Yet  he  declares  these  to  have  been  the  happiest 
months  of  his  life.  He  thus  describes  the  grizzly  king 
of  the  mountains: 

"  The  mountains  are  the  favorite  haunts  of  the 
grizzly  bear,  the  monarch  of  American  beasts,  and, 
in  many  respects,  the  most  formidable  animal  in  the 
world  to  be  encountered.  In  comparison  with  the  lion 
of  Africa  and  the  tiger  of  Asia,  though  these  may  ex- 
hibit more  activity  and  blood-thirstiness,  the  grizzly 
is  not  second  in  courage  and  excels  them  in  power. 


i82  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

Like  the  regions  which  he  inhabits,  there  is  a  vastness  in 
his  strength  which  makes  him  a  fit  companion  for  the 
monster  trees  and  giant  rocks  of  the  Sierra,  and  places 
him,  if  not  the  first,  at  least  in  the  first  rank  of  all  quad- 
rupeds. 


"  The  grizzly  bear  of  California,  in  the  consciousness 
of  strength  and  magnanimity  of  courage,  alone  of  all 
animals,  stands  unappalled  in  the  face  of  any  enemy, 
and  turns  not  from  the  sight  of  man.  He  may  not 
seek  the  conflict,  but  he  never  flies  from  it.  He  may 
not  feed  upon  royal  meat,  nor  feel  the  flow  of  royal 
blood  in  his  veins;  but  he  is  unapproachable,  over- 
whelming. The  lion  and  the  tiger  are  like  the  desert 
with  its  fiery  simoons  and  tornadoes;  the  grizzly  bear 
of  California  like  the  mountains  with  their  frosts  and 
avalanches.  .  .  . 

"  He  sometimes  weighs  as  much  as  two  thousand 
pounds.  He  is  of  a  brown  color,  sprinkled  with  grayish 
hairs.  When  aroused,  he  is,  as  has  been  said  before, 
the  most  terrible  of  all  animals  in  the  world  to  en- 
counter; but  ordinarily  will  not  attack  man,  except 
under  peculiar  circumstances.  It  is  of  this  animal 
that  the  most  extraordinary  feats  of  strength  are  re- 
corded. It  is  said,  with  truth,  that  he  can  carry  off  a 
full-grown  horse  or  buffalo,  and  that,  with  one  blow 
of  his  paw,  he  can  stop  a  mad  bull  in  full  career.  When 
roused,  and  particularly  when  wounded,  there  is  no 
end  to  his  courage;  he  fights  till  the  last  spark  of  life 
expires,  fearing  no  odds,  and  never  deigning  to  turn 


JAMES   CAPEN  ADAMS  183 

his  heel  upon  the  combat.  It  is  to  him  that  the  appella- 
tions of  science,  ursus  ferox  and  ursus  horribilis  are 
peculiarly  applicable." 

Adams  thus  describes  his  camp:  "It  consisted 
merely  of  a  convenient  spot,  where  wood,  water  and 
herbage  were  near  at  hand.  There  we  would  unpack 
our  mules,  turn  them  out  to  graze,  and  build  a  large 
fire,  which  was  seldom  allowed  to  go  down.  In  the  day, 
this  fire  served  for  culinary  purposes;  at  night,  for 
warmth  and  protection.  I  slept  invariably  in  my  blan- 
kets, upon  the  ground;  never  in  any  house,  or  within 
any  inclosure,  unless  the  weather  was  rainy,  when  a 
few  boughs,  disposed  into  a  kind  of  booth,  would  con- 
stitute all  my  shelter  from  the  elements.  On  a  few 
occasions,  a  blanket  was  spread  to  keep  off  the  rain 
or  dampness;  but,  as  a  general  rule,  my  bed  was 
entirely  exposed." 

When  Adams  entered  the  mountains,  it  was  with  no 
intention  of  becoming  a  hunter  of  bears.  This  change 
came  about  owing  to  the  fact  that  his  brother  dis- 
covered his  whereabouts,  came  to  see  him,  and  finally 
urged  him  to  enter  into  a  partnership,  by  the  terms 
of  which  he  was  to  capture  wild  animals  alive,  or 
secure  their  skins,  send  them  to  his  brother  and 
receive  a  certain  share  of  the  proceeds.  About  this 
time  he  fell  in  with  a  man  named  William  Sykesey, 
who  for  some  time  became  a  sharer  in  his  perils  and 
dangers. 

One  of  his  first  experiences  was  to  shoot  a  grizzly 
bear  and  then  capture  her  two  year-old  cubs,  both  of 
which  he  tamed,  and  one  of  which  became  his  insep- 


184  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

arable  companion  and  friend  for  many  years,  —  the 
celebrated  Lady  Washington. 

After  slaying  the  mother,  he  thought  he  could  easily 
secure  the  cubs.  Says  he:  "  As  I  rushed  at  them,  they 
retreated;  as  I  pursued,  they  broke  away,  and,  doub- 
ling, shot  past  with  a  rapidity  of  motion  which  de- 
fied all  my  skill.  I  chased  a  long  time  without  success; 
and,  finally,  when  they  and  I  were  nearly  worn  out, 
they  suddenly  turned  and  made  so  violent  an  attack 
upon  me  that  I. was  compelled,  for  my  personal  safety, 
to  betake  myself  to  a  tree,  and  was  glad  to  find  one  to 
climb.  Although  but  little  more  than  a  year  old,  I  saw 
that  they  had  teeth  and  claws  which  were  truly  formi- 
dable." 

For  half  an  hour  they  kept  him  treed  and  then,  not 
"  understanding  the  art  of  starving  an  enemy "  — 
as  an  older  bear  does  —  they  went  away.  But  he  was 
now  bent  on  their  capture,  and  with  the  aid  of  some 
Indians  finally  succeeded  in  doing  so  by  lying  in  wait 
for  them  at  the  spring  where  they  came  to  drink.  While 
awaiting  their  coming  and  a  good  opportunity  to 
capture  them,  he  shot  and  killed  another  grizzly,  which 
supplied  him  with  meat.  Here  is  his  account  of  his  part 
of  the  capture.  When  the  animals  came  he  pursued 
one  and  the  Indians  the  other :  "  My  cub,  which  proved 
to  be  a  female,  bounded  into  the  plain,  and  required  a 
long  chase.  She  ran  quite  a  mile  before  it  was  possible 
for  me  to  throw  the  lasso,  which  was  no  sooner  over 
her  head  than  she  poked  it  off,  and  started  on  again.  I 
followed  several  miles,  and  threw  the  lasso  over  her 
again  and  again,  as  many  as  seven  times,  before  it  kept 


JAMES   CAPEN  ADAMS  185 

its  place;  but  it  did  finally  retain  its  hold,  and  she  was 
mine.  I  immediately  sprang  from  my  horse,  and, 
whipping  out  a  muzzle  and  cords  from  my  pockets, 
soon  had  her  bound  head  and  foot.  She  was  so  beau- 
tiful that  I  had  to  stop  and  admire  her  some  time 
before  going  to  see  what  my  comrades  had  done. 

"  They  had  been  equally  successful,  though  they 
had  not  come  off  so  easily  in  the  combat,  having  been 
pretty  well  scratched." 

Adams  gives  a  long  account  of  his  experiences  in 
taming  Lady  Washington  and  Jackson,  as  he  respect- 
ively named  his  two  cubs,  and  he  contends  that  if 
the  bear  be  taken  early  enough  —  even  the  dreaded 
grizzly  —  "he  grows  up  a  devoted  friend,  exhibiting 
such  remarkable  qualities  of  domestication  as  almost 
to  lead  one  to  suppose  that  he  was  intended,  as  well  as 
the  dog,  for  the  companionship  of  man." 

Be  this  as  it  may,  it  certainly  was  not  long  before 
he  had  these  cubs  well-trained,  and  in  the  course  of 
his  narrative  he  tells  us  of  Lady  Washington's  accom- 
panying him  on  his  trips,  carrying  his  packs,  warning 
him  of  the  presence  of  foes,  sleeping  by  his  side  and 
saving  him  from  cold,  and  of  Ben  Franklin  —  another 
grizzly  which  he  captured  later  —  saving  his  life,  for 
he  had  taught  Ben  to  go  hunting  with  him. 

On  one  occasion  he  and  Sykesey  built  a  bear  trap  oppo- 
site a  precipitous  hill  which  was  covered  with  chaparral, 
and  appeared  entirely  overgrown  with  a  thick  and 
vigorous  vegetation  of  creeping  and  branching  vines 
which  had  become  interwoven.  Here  let  Adams  tell  the 
story. 


186  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

"  One  evening  as  we  were  about  giving  over  work 
for  the  day,  my  attention  was  attracted  by  a  noise 
on  this  hill;  and,  upon  casting  my  eyes  upward,  I 
beheld  a  large  grizzly  bear  coming  down,  back  fore- 
most, allowing  her  weight  to  carry  her,  while  she  re- 
tarded what  would  otherwise  have  been  too  rapid  a 
descent  by  holding  on  to  the  rocks  and  bushes  with  her 
claws.  So  ludicrous  was  this  mode  of  progression,  — 
if  coming  down  tail  foremost  can  be  called  progression, 
and  so  droll  her  movements  in  catching  at  every  twig 
and  branch  in  her  course,  that,  but  for  the  danger  of 
my  situation,  I  could  have  laughed  outright.  As,  how- 
ever, laughing  or  any  other  noise,  under  the  circum- 
stances, might  have  exposed  us  to  immediate  peril, 
I  kept  perfectly  silent,  and  beckoned  Sykesey  to  reach 
me  my  rifle,  which  was  leaning  against  a  tree  near  where 
he  stood.  As  he  did  so,  I  whispered  that  we  were  in  a 
dangerous  situation,  and  that  it  wrould  require  all  our 
coolness  and  nerve  to  escape  destruction.  At  the  same 
time,  I  cautioned  him  to  reserve  his  fire  and  be  ready 
in  case  my  shot  should  prove  ineffectual;  and,  at  all 
events,  to  stand  by  me  in  case  of  extremity.  I  spoke 
thus,  because  the  fellow  seemed  frightened;  but  this 
solemn  talk  frightened  him  still  more;  he,  however, 
promised  to  obey  my  instructions,  and  stand  by  me  like 
a  man. 

"  By  this  time  the  bear  had  slid  down  within  shoot- 
ing distance;  but,  her  position  not  presenting  so  fair 
a  mark  as  was  desired,  and  there  not  now  being  light 
enough  to  procure  good  aim,  I  was  loath  to  fire;  never- 
theless, feeling  that  it  would  be  the  only  opportunity, 


JAMES   CAPEN  ADAMS  187 

and  trusting  to  good  fortune,  I  blazed  away.  The  smoke 
hardly  lifted,  and  the  echoes  were  hardly  still,  when, 
crack!  went  Sykesey's  rifle  too;  and,  upon  looking 
around,  I  saw  that  he  not  only  had  fired,  but  had  also 
taken  to  his  heels,  and  was  running  as  fast  as  his  legs 
would  carry  him,  leaving  me  to  take  the  chances  alone. 
There  was,  however,  no  time  to  reprove  this  cowardly 
conduct,  for  the  bear  now  came  down  with  a  tumbling 
plunge,  and  I  drew  my  bowie-knife  in  the  expectation 
of  an  immediate  conflict.  Indeed,  I  braced  myself  for 
a  deadly  encounter,  when,  very  unexpectedly,  the 
bear  rushed  past,  perhaps  not  seeing  me,  and  bounded 
away  for  the  dense  thicket  in  the  ravine  below.  Her 
motions,  and  a  few  drops  of  blood  which  stained  her 
course,  showed  that  she  was  badly  wounded.  Catching 
up  my  rifle,  and  reloading  as  quickly  as  possible,  I 
pursued,  in  hopes  of  obtaining  another  shot  and  finish- 
ing the  business;  but  before  I  was  able  to  overtake 
her  she  gained  the  thicket,  which  was  too  dense,  and 
it  was  now  too  dark,  to  attempt  to  enter." 

The  following  day,  as  they  passed  the  spot  where 
the  bear  disappeared  in  the  chaparral,  Adams  taunted 
Sykesey  and  declared  that  if  he  would  exhibit  a  little 
more  courage  than  he  had  done  on  the  preceding  eve- 
ning he  would  enter  the  chaparral  and  look  for  the 
animal.  On  Sykesey  protesting  that  he  would  "  stand 
by  him  to  the  last  drop  of  his  blood,"  they  entered  the 
thicket  and  followed  the  track  of  the  bear,  only  to  find 
her  dead  in  her  den. 

Soon  after  this  they  saw  several  large  black  wolves 
in  a  ravine,  while  they  were  on  the  top  of  a  high  preci- 


i88  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

pice  almost  over  them.  Adams  shot,  killing  two  and 
wounding  another  in  the  shoulder.  He  says: 

"  Having  no  thought  of  any  difficulty,  I  dropped 
my  rifle,  drew  my  knife,  climbed  down  the  precipice, 
and  gave  the  wounded  wolf  chase.  Upon  overtaking 
him  I  seized  him  by  the  tail  and  threw  him  upon  the 
ground,  with  the  object  of  stabbing  him;  but,  by  an 
unexpected  turn,  he  snapped  at  my  right  forearm  and 
completely  penetrated  it  with  his  fangs,  and  so  potent 
was  the  bite  that  the  knife  dropped  from  my  unnerved 
hand.  For  a  few  moments  the  pain  was  excessive; 
but  when  the  first  paroxysm  was  a  little  over,  I  drew 
my  revolver,  and  finished  the  beast  by  a  shot  in  the 
heart.  Upon  turning  up  my  buckskin  sleeve,  the 
blood  flowed  profusely,  and  the  wound  showed  itself 
to  be  severe;  one  of  much  less  severity,  received  from  a 
coyote  bite  since  my  return  from  the  wilderness,  and 
the  help  of  three  surgeons,  kept  my  arm  in  a  sling  eight 
months,  and  came  near  costing  me  my  hand. 

"  But,  in  the  mountains,  I  acted  as  my  own  doctor, 
and  practised  the  water-cure  system  with  great  success. 
I  therefore  merely  directed  my  Indian,  when  he  had 
loaded  his  rifle,  and  came  up,  to  wet  my  handkerchief 
in  cold  water  and  wrap  it  tightly  about  the  wound.  In 
civilized  life,  when  an  injury  of  this  kind  is  received,  it 
is  poulticed  and  bandaged;  sometimes  probed  and 
lanced;  and,  frequently,  very  bad  work  indeed  is  the 
result;  but  experience  has  taught  me  that  cold  water 
and  nature  are  apt  to  be  better  than  salves  and  doctors; 
and  I  would  undertake  to  cure  almost  any  bite,  not 
poisonous,  by  simply  dressing  it  with  cold  water.  A 


JAME'S   CAPEN  ADAMS  189 

simple  cut  of  the  finger  by  nature  heals  rapidly,  but, 
if  plastered  up,  remains  sore  many  days." 

While  thus  wounded  he  had  to  walk  to  his  camp, 
several  miles  through  an  almost  unexplored  region, 
and  on  the  way  killed  a  coyote  and  had  a  good  scare 
from  a  panther.  The  next  morning,  after  more  water 
treatment,  his  wound  was  free  from  soreness  and  soon 
healed. 

One  day,  as  he  was  returning  home,  he  gave  his  rifle 
to  one  of  his  companions,  and  with  Lady  Washington 
started  to  go  alone.  Tempted  to  shoot  some  antelope 
with  his  pistol,  he  got  into  thick  chaparral,  then  sud- 
denly bethought  himself  that  it  might  be  dangerous, 
as  there  were  signs  of  numerous  grizzlies  around. 
He  finally  decided  to  return  and  began  backing  out. 
"  Suddenly,"  he  says,  "  Lady  Washington  gave  a 
snort  and  chattered  her  teeth.  I  wheeled  around  at  this, 
and  directly  behind  the  Lady,  full  in  sight,  standing 
upon  his  hind  legs  and  wickedly  surveying  us,  stood  a 
savage  old  grizzly.  That  he  had  hostile  intentions, 
all  his  actions  clearly  showed;  and  there  I  was,  almost 
without  arms,  and  with  the  Lady  as  well  as  myself  to 
take  care  of. 

"  In  this  emergency,  I  seized  the  chain  with  which 
the  Lady  was  usually  tied,  and  which  was  now  wrapped 
about  her  neck,  and  unwound  it  as  noiselessly  as  pos- 
sible. I  was  then  about  to  move  to  a  tree  which  stood 
near,  when  the  enemy  dropped  upon  his  all  fours,  came 
a  little  nearer,  and  rose  again.  Here  was  a  dilemma.  I 
knew  from  the  nature  of  the  beast  that  if  I  moved  now, 
I  was  to  expect  him  either  to  instantly  attack  or  pre- 


i9o  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

cipitately  fly,  —  but  the  former  much  more  probable 
than  the  latter.  I  did  not  wish  to  hasten  an  unforeseen 
determination  on  his  part,  however,  and  therefore 
stood  stock-still,  with  my  pistol  in  my  hand;  and  thus 
we  both,  motionless  as  stone,  eyed  each  other.  It  is 
difficult  to  tell  how  long  the  bear  would  have  gazed 
without  acting, — not  long,  probably;  but  seeing  his 
indecision,  I  resolved  to  turn  it  to  my  advantage;  and 
suddenly  discharging  the  pistol,  rattling  the  iron  chain, 
and  at  the  same  time  yelling  with  all  my  might,  I  had 
the  gratification  of  seeing  the  enemy  turn  tail  and  run, 
as  if  frightened  out  of  his  wits.  Not  satisfied  with 
this,  I  followed  after  him  yelling  and  shouting,  with  the 
Lady  growling,  and  the  chain  clanking.  It  seemed  as 
if  a  thousand  evil  ones  had  sprung  up  all  at  once  in  the 
wilderness,  and  the  old  bear  tore  through  the  bushes 
as  if  each  particular  one  was  after  him." 

One  day  he  was  chasing  some  buffaloes,  when  they 
dashed  into  a  marsh.  "  Seeing  them  fairly  in  the  mud, 
we  sought  low  places  in  the  bank,  and  rode  after  them; 
but,  as  the  soil  grew  less  and  less  firm,  we  soon  dis- 
mounted, and  pursued  on  foot.  The  animals  plunged 
deeper  and  deeper,  and,  being  hampered  with  their 
great  bodies,  completely  mired;  so  that  we  easily 
reached  them,  and  in  a  few  minutes  slaughtered  four. 

"  There  was  one  lying  in  the  mud  a  little  further 
distant,  and,  as  my  rifle  was  discharged,  I  resolved 
to  kill  him  with  my  bowie-knife.  ...  I  approached 
without  sufficient  caution,  for,  upon  getting  close,  with 
my  knife  drawn  ready  to  plunge  into  his  neck,  he  sud- 
denly made  a  mighty  effort,  lunged  against  me,  and 


JAMES   CAPEN   ADAMS  191 

laid  me  sprawling  before  him.  He  then,  with  his 
crooked  horns,  butted  against  my  prostrate  form, 
and  pressed  me  deeply  into  the  mire;  so  that  I  was  in 
great  danger  from  being  drowned.  The  mud  was  soft 
and  yielding,  and  my  body  sank  deeply;  but  this  turned 
out  to  be  a  fortunate  circumstance;  for,  had  the  ground 
been  harder,  I  should  certainly  have  been  ground  to 
pieces.  While  thus  going  down  into  what  threatened 
to  be  my  grave,  Kimball  ran  up,  and,  just  as  I  was 
disappearing,  sent  a  ball  into  the  bull's  body,  which 
made  him  throw  up  his  head.  In  this  moment,  I  sprang 
to  my  feet,  with  the  knife  still  in  my  hand,  and  stabbed 
the  beast  to  the  heart,  and  he  soon  expired." 

About  a  week  later  the  whole  camp  was  awakened 
by  the  presence  of  a  grizzly  which,  however,  retreated 
before  a  pistol  shot.  "  This  adventure  excited  the  wrhole 
camp,  and  particularly  Foster,  who  was  of  a  chivalrous 
and  impulsive  character,  and  wished  to  go  after  the 
beast,  even  in  the  darkness.  Such  madness  I  would 
by  no  means  allow;  but,  in  the  morning,  we  had  hardly 
started  upon  the  hunt,  when  we  came  upon  a  large 
grizzly  with  two  large  cubs.  She  was  probably  the 
visitor  of  the  previous  night;  and  Foster  was  almost 
beside  himself  for  a  shot.  I  cautioned  him  to  go  around 
with  the  rest  of  us  to  a  wooded  knoll  beyond  the  animal; 
but  he  thought  he  could  kill  a  bear  as  easily  as  a  buck, 
and  determined  to  advance  from  where  he  was. 

"  Seeing  that  he  was  bent  upon  his  self-willed  resolu- 
tion, we  exacted  only  a  promise  that  he  would  not 
fire  until  we  reached  the  knoll;  but,  before  getting  upon 
the  top  of  it,  we  were  startled  by  the  report  of  his  rifle, 


i92  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

and,  at  the  same  time,  one  of  those  terrific  roars  which 
the  grizzly  makes  when  it  rushes  for  a  man.  I  knew, 
in  an  instant,  there  was  danger,  and  sprang  forward; 
but  only  in  time  to  witness  poor  Foster's  death.  He 
had  wounded  the  brute,  and  then  ran  for  a  tree;  but, 
before  he  could  climb  out  of  reach,  the  bear  seized  his 
feet  in  her  mouth,  and  dragged  him  to  the  ground, 
and  later,  with  one  blow,  dashed  out  his  life." 

Another  time,  in  the  Yosemite,  —  that  grand  moun- 
tain valley  that  stands  unique  as  one  of  the  most  pic- 
turesque and  varied  in  the  world,  and  whose  name, 
in  the  Indian,  Yo-ham-e-te,  signifies  Grizzly  Bear,  — 
he  waited  for  three  days  for  a  bear  to  come  out  of  her 
cave,  and  when  he  grew  impatient,  went  in,  determined 
to  bring  the  adventure  to  a  close.  "  Before  putting  my 
plan  into  execution,  I  stuck  my  cap  full  of  green  twigs, 
and  stationed  myself  in  such  a  manner  in  the  bushes 
that  it  would  take  a  nice  eye  to  discern  my  form,  even 
though  looking  directly  towards  me.  Having  thus 
disposed  myself,  cocking  and  drawing  my  rifle,  I  uttered 
one  of  those  terrific  yells  with  which  I  have  so  often 
started  a  grizzly  to  his  feet.  It  echoed  like  the  roar  of  a 
lion  up  the  canyon;  and  hi  a  moment  afterwards  there 
was  a  booming  in  the  den  like  the  puffing  and  snorting 
of  an  engine  in  a  tunnel,  and  the  enraged  animal 
rushed  out,  growling  and  snuffing,  as  if  she  could  belch 
forth  the  fire  of  a  volcano.  She  rose  upon  her  hind 
feet,  and  exhibited  a  monster  form,  —  limbs  of  terrible 
strength.  She  looked  around  in  every  direction;  but 
in  a  few  moments,  seeing  nothing  to  attack,  she  sat 
down  upon  her  haunches,  with  her  back  towards  me 


JAMES   CAPEN  ADAMS  193 

and  her  face  towards  the  opposite  side  of  the  canyon, 
as  if  her  enemy  were  there. 

"  During  these  few  minutes  I  stood  as  motionless  as  a 
statue,  hardly  breathing,  waiting  and  watching  for  an 
opportunity  to  fire.  Had  I  met  such  an  animal  un- 
awares, in  an  unexpected  place,  her  ferocity  would  have 
made  me  tremble;  but  after  my  long  watch  I  was 
anxious  to  commence  the  attack,  and  felt  as  steady 
as  a  piece  of  ordnance  upon  a  battery.  As  I  watched, 
I  saw  her  turn  her  head  towards  the  den,  and,  fearing 
she  would  retire,  I  gave  a  low,  sharp  whistle,  which 
brought  her  to  her  feet  again,  with  her  breast  fronting 
directly  towards  me.  It  was  then,  having  my  rifle 
already  drawn,  that  I  fired;  and  in  an  instant,  dropping 
the  rifle,  I  drew  my  pistol  hi  one  hand  and  my  knife 
in  the  other.  The  bear,  as  the  ball  slapped  loudly 
in  the  fat  of  her  body,  staggered  and  fell  backwards, 
and  began  pawing  and  biting  the  ground,  —  a  sure 
sign  of  a  deadly  hurt.  .  .  .  The  work  was  nearly  done; 
but  so  anxious  was  I  to  complete  it  at  once  that  I  com- 
menced leaping  over  the  bushes;  when,  gathering  her 
savage  strength,  she  arose,  and,  with  one  last,  desperate 
effort,  sprang  towards  me.  The  distance  between  us 
was  only  thirty  feet,  but,  fortunately,  full  of  brush, 
and  she  soon  weakened  with  the  prodigious  energy 
requisite  to  tear  her  way  through  it.  I  discharged  the 
six  shots  of  my  revolver,  the  last  of  which  struck  under 
the  left  ear,  and  laid  her  still  for  a  moment;  when, 
leaping  forward,  my  knife  gave  the  final  stroke." 

Later,  Adams  captured  a  young  grizzly  cub,  which 
he  called  Ben  Franklin,  and  which  he  afterwards 


i94  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

brought  to  San  Francisco  where  it  became  as  well- 
known  as  Lady  Washington.  It  was  not  until  he  had 
had  many  years  of  such  exciting  adventure  that  he 
finally  settled  down,  giving  to  others  some  of  the  pleas- 
ure that  he  himself  enjoyed  in  the  friendship  and  com- 
panionship of  his  tame  grizzly  bears,  and  telling 
with  quaint  humor  the  stories  the  historian  has  pre- 
served for  those  who  will  come  to  live  in  our  State 
when  a  wild  bear  will  be  as  rare  as  it  now  is  in  England. 


CHAPTER  XXI 

THE     MAIL-CARRYING    HERO    OF    THE    SNOW-CROWNED 
SIERRAS,    SNOW-SHOE    THOMPSON 

THERE  are  those  whose  daily  deeds,  if  performed 
by  men  in  a  different  sphere  of  life,  would  be 
heralded  as  worthy  of  the  world's  praise.  Yet  the  men 
who  engage  in  such  occupations  perform  them  without 
a  thought  of  outside  considerations,  regarding  the  dis- 
charge of  their  duty  as  the  chief  thing  to  be  considered. 
Doubtless  many  and  various  motives  could  be  found 
which  have  induced  such  men  to  enter  upon  their 
adventurous  careers,  and  where  the  desire  to  benefit, 
or  bring  comfort  to  their  fellow  men  is  a  prime  motive, 
disinterestedness  must  be  added  to  the  heroism  they 
display. 

Such  was  the  characteristic  of  "  Snow-shoe  Thomp- 
son," one  of  the  pioneer  heroes  of  California,  who, 
though  well-known  fifty  years  ago,  is  now  almost 
forgotten.  To  William  Wright,  a  compeer  of  Bret 
Harte,  Mark  Twain,  Joaquin  Miller,  and  the  earlier 
writers  of  California,  who  wrote  under  the  nom  de 
plume  of  Dan  de  Quille,  in  the  Overland  Monthly  of 
October,  1886,  I  owe  the  following  interesting  story. 

"  The  most  remarkable  and  most  fearless  of  all 
our  Pacific  Coast  mountaineers  was  John  A.  Thomp- 
son, popularly  known  as  '  Snow-shoe  Thompson.' 


i96  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

For  over  twenty  years  he  braved  the  winter  storms,  as 
both  by  day  and  by  night  he  traversed  the  high  Sierra. 
His  name  was  the  synonym  for  endurance  and  daring 
everywhere  in  the  mountains,  where  he  was  well- 
known,  and  was  famous  in  all  the  camps  and  settle- 
ments. He  was  seldom  seen  in  the  valleys,  or  any  of 
the  large  towns  except  Sacramento,  where  he  only 
went  when  business  called  him.  Notwithstanding 
that  he  seldom  left  his  mountain  home,  there  are  but 
few  persons  of  middle  age  on  the  western  side  of  the 
continent  who  have  not  heard  of  '  Snow-shoe  Thomp- 
son,' or  who  have  not  in  times  past  read  an  occasional 
paragraph  in  regard  to  some  of  his  many  wonderful 
exploits.  Before  the  completion  of  the  Central  Pacific 
Railroad,  when  he  was  regularly  crossing  the  Sierra 
Nevadas  during  the  winter  months,  with  the  mails 
strapped  upon  his  back,  more  was  heard  of  him, 
through  the  newspapers  and  otherwise,  than  during  the 
last  few  years  of  his  life,  yet  every  winter  up  to  the 
last  he  lived,  he  was  constantly  performing  feats  that 
excited  the  wonder  and  admiration  even  of  his  neigh- 
bors and  friends,  though  for  years  they  had  been 
familiar  with  his  powers  of  endurance,  and  his  un- 
daunted courage. 

"  These  feats  would  have  been  heralded  far  and  wide 
had  they  been  performed  in  a  more  accessible  or  popu- 
lous region.  He,  however,  thought  lightly  of  the  daring 
and  difficult  things  he  did.  They  were  nearly  all  done 
in  the  course  of  his  regular  business  pursuits.  It  was 
very  seldom  that  he  went  out  of  his  way  to  do  a  thing 
merely  to  excite  astonishment,  or  elicit  applause." 


JOHN    A.   THOMPSON. 

("  Snow-Shoe  "  Thompson.) 


Page  M6 


SNOW-SHOE  THOMPSON  197 

Thompson  was  born  at  Upper  Tins,  Prestijeld,  Nor- 
way, April  30,  1827.  Ten  years  later  his  parents 
moved  to  the  United  States,  and  for  a  year  lived  in 
Illinois,  before  pushing  on  further  into  Missouri. 
Then  in  1841  they  moved  to  Iowa,  remaining  there  until 
1845,  wnen  they  returned  to  Illinois.  In  1851  John, 
then  twenty-four  years  of  age,  was  allured  by  the 
gold  call,  and  came  overland  to  Hangtown  (now 
Placerville),  at  which  place,  and  also  at  Coon  Hollow 
and  Kelsey's  Diggings,  he  worked  as  a  miner.  He 
soon  became  dissatisfied  with  the  labor  of  mining,  so, 
in  1854-1855,  he  went  to  Putah  Creek,  in  the  Sacra- 
mento Valley,  and  set  up  as  a  rancher.  But  his  eyes 
were  constantly  turned  to  the  mountains,  which  he 
ardently  loved,  and  he  waited,  longing  and  hoping  for 
the  time  when  he  could  return. 

"  Early  in  the  winter  of  1856,  while  still  at  work  on 
his  Putah  Creek  ranch,  Mr.  Thompson  read  in  the 
papers  of  the  trouble  experienced  in  getting  the 
mails  across  the  snowy  summit  of  the  Sierra  Nevada 
Mountains.  At  the  time  he  was  engaged  in  cutting 
wood  on  his  ranch.  What  he  heard  and  read  of  the 
difficulties  encountered  in  the  mountains,  on  account 
of  the  great  depth  of  the  snow,  set  him  to  thinking. 
When  he  was  a  boy,  in  Norway,  snow-shoes  were  ob- 
jects as  familiar  to  him  as  ordinary  shoes  are  to  the 
children  of  other  lands.  He  determined  to  make  a 
pair  of  snow-shoes  out  of  the  oak  timbers  he  was  en- 
gaged in  splitting.  Although  he  was  but  ten  years  of 
age  at  the  time  he  left  his  native  land,  his  recollections 
of  the  shoes  he  had  seen  there  were  in  the  main  correct. 


198  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

Nevertheless,  the  shoes  he  then  made  were  such  as 
would  at  the  present  day  be  considered  much  too  heavy, 
and  somewhat  clumsy.  They  were  ten  feet  in  length, 
were  four  inches  in  width  behind  the  part  on  which 
the  feet  rest,  and  in  front  were  four  inches  and  a  quarter 
wide. 

"  Having  completed  his  snow-shoes  to  the  best  of 
his  knowledge,  Thompson  at  once  set  out  for  Placer- 
ville,  in  order  to  make  experiments  with  them.  Placer- 
ville  was  not  only  his  old  mining  camp,  but  was  also  the 
principal  mountain  town  on  the  '  Old  Emigrant  Road  ' 
—  the  road  over  which  the  mails  were  then  carried. 
Being  made  out  of  green  oak,  Thompson's  first  shoes 
were  very  heavy.  When  he  reached  Placerville,  he 
put  them  upon  a  pair  of  scales,  and  found  that  they 
weighed  twenty-five  pounds.  But  their  owner  was 
a  man  of  giant  strength,  and  he  was  too  eager  to  be  up 
and  doing  to  lose  time  in  making  another  pair  out  of 
lighter  wood. 

"  Stealing  away  to  retired  places  near  the  town, 
Thompson  spent  several  days  in  practising  on  his  snow- 
shoes,  and  he  soon  became  so  expert  that  he  did  not 
fear  letting  himself  be  seen  in  public  on  his  snow-shoes. 

"  When  he  made  his  first  public  appearance,  he  was 
already  able  to  perform  such  feats  as  astonished  all 
who  beheld  them.  His  were  the  first  Norwegian  snow- 
shoes  ever  seen  in  California.  At  that  time,  the  only 
snow-shoes  known  were  those  of  the  Canadian  pattern. 
Mounted  upon  his  shoes  —  which  were  not  unlike 
thin  sled  runners  in  appearance  —  and  with  his  long 
balance-pole  in  his  hands,  he  dashed  down  the  sides 


SNOW-SHOE  THOMPSON  199 

of  the  mountains  at  such  a  fearful  rate  of  speed  as  to 
cause  many  to  characterize  the  performance  as  fool- 
hardy. Not  a  few  of  his  old  friends  among  the  miners 
begged  him  to  desist,  swearing  roundly  that  he  would 
dash  his  brains  out  against  a  tree,  or  plunge  over  some 
precipice  and  break  his  neck.  But  Thompson  only 
laughed  at  their  fears.  With  his  feet  firmly  braced, 
and  his  balance-pole  in  his  hands,  he  flew  down  the 
mountain  slopes,  as  much  at  home  as  an  eagle  soaring 
and  circling  above  the  neighboring  peaks. 

"  He  did  not  ride  astride  his  guide-pole,  nor  trail  it 
by  his  side  in  the  snow,  as  is  the  practice  of  other  snow- 
shoers  when  descending  a  steep  mountain,  but  held 
it  horizontally  before  him,  after  the  manner  of  a  tight- 
rope walker. 

"  Having  satisfied  himself  in  regard  to  what  he  could 
do  on  his  snow-shoes,  Thompson  declared  himself 
ready  to  undertake  to  transport  the  mails  across  the 
mountains.  His  first  trip  was  made  in  January,  1856. 
He  went  from  Placerville  to  Carson  Valley,  a  distance 
of  ninety  miles.  With  the  mail  bags  strapped  upon 
his  back,  he  glided  over  fields  of  snow  that  were  in 
places  from  thirty  to  fifty  feet  in  depth,  his  long  Nor- 
wegian shoes  bearing  him  safely  and  swiftly  along  upon 
the  surface  of  the  great  drifts. 

"  Having  successfully  made  the  trip  to  Carson  Valley 
and  back  to  Placerville,  Show-shoe  Thompson  became 
a  necessity,  and  was  soon  a  fixed  institution  of  the  moun- 
tains. He  carried  the  mails  between  the  two  points 
all  that  winter.  Through  him  was  kept  up  the  only 
land  communication  there  was  between  the  Atlantic 


200  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

States  and  California.  No  matter  how  wild  the  storms 
that  raged  in  the  mountains,  he  always  came  through, 
and  generally  on  time. 

"  The  loads  that  Snow-shoe  Thompson  carried 
strapped  upon  his  back  would  have  broken  down  an 
ordinary  man,  though  wearing  common  shoes  and 
traveling  on  solid  ground.  The  weight  of  the  bags  he 
carried  was  ordinarily  from  sixty  to  eighty  pounds;  but 
one  winter,  when  he  carried  the  mails  for  Chorpenning, 
his  load  often  weighed  over  one  hundred  pounds. 

"  In  going  from  Placerville  to  Carson  Valley,  owing 
to  the  great  amount  of  uphill  traveling,  three  days  were 
consumed;  whereas,  he  was  able  to  go  from  Carson 
Valley  to  Placerville  in  two  days,  making  forty-five 
miles  a  day.  Not  a  house  was  then  found  in  all  that 
distance.  Between  the  two  points  it  was  a  Siberia  of 
snow. 

"  While  traveling  in  the  mountains,  Snow-shoe 
Thompson  never  carried  blankets,  nor  did  he  even 
wear  an  overcoat.  The  weight  and  bulk  of  such  articles 
would  have  encumbered  and  discommoded  him.  Ex- 
ercise kept  him  warm  while  traveling,  and  when  en- 
camped he  always  built  a  fire.  During  the  first  year 
or  two  after  he  went  into  the  business,  he  carried  a  re- 
volver. Finding,  however,  that  he  had  no  use  for 
such  a  weapon,  and  it  being  of  the  first  importance 
to  travel  as  light  as  possible,  he  presently  concluded 
to  leave  his  pistol  at  home. 

"  All  that  he  carried  in  the  way  of  provisions  was  a 
small  quantity  of  jerked  beef,  or  dried  sausage,  and  a 
few  crackers  or  biscuits.  The  food  that  he  took  into 


SNOW-SHOE  THOMPSON  201 

the  mountains  was  all  of  a  kind  that  could  be  eaten  as 
he  ran.  For  drink  he  caught  up  a  handful  of  snow, 
or  lay  down  for  a  moment  and  quaffed  the  water  of 
some  brook  or  spring.  He  never  took  with  him  liquor 
of  any  kind.  He  was  a  man  that  seldom  tasted  liquor. 

"  '  Snow-shoe  '  never  stopped  for  storms.  He  always 
set  out  on  the  day  appointed,  without  regard  to  the 
weather,  and  he  traveled  by  nights  as  well  as  in  the 
daytime.  He  pursued  no  regular  path  —  in  a  trackless 
waste  of  snow  there  was  no  path  to  follow  —  but  kept 
a  general  route  or  course.  By  day  he  was  guided  by 
the  trees  and  rocks,  and  by  night  looked  to  the  stars, 
as  does  a  mariner  to  his  compass.  With  the  places  of 
many  stars  he  was  as  familiar  as  ever  was  Hansteen, 
the  great  astronomer  of  the  land  of  his  birth. 

"  At  the  time  Thompson  began  snow-shoeing  in  the 
Sierras,  nothing  was  known  of  the  mysteries  of  '  dope  ' 
—  a  preparation  of  pitch,  tallow,  and  other  ingredients, 
which  being  applied  to  the  bottom  of  the  shoes,  enables 
the  wearer  to  lightly  glide  over  snow  softened  by  the 
rays  of  the  sun.  Dope  appears  to  have  been  a  Cali- 
fornia discovery.  It  is  made  of  different  qualities,  and 
different  degrees  of  hardness  and  softness.  As  Thomp- 
son used  no  dope,  soft  snow  stuck  to,  and  so  clogged 
his  shoes,  that  it  was  sometimes  impossible  for  him  to 
travel  over  it.  Thus,  it  frequently  happened  that  he 
was  obliged  to  halt  for  several  hours  during  the  day, 
and  resume  his  journey  at  night,  when  a  crust  was 
frozen  on  the  snow. 

"  Snow-shoe's  night  camps  —  whenever  the  night 
was  such  as  prevented  him  from  pursuing  his  journey, 


202  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

or  when  it  was  necessary  for  him  to  obtain  sleep  — 
were  generally  made  wherever  he  happened  to  be  at 
the  moment.  He  always  tried,  however,  to  find  the 
stump  of  a  dead  pine,  at  which  to  make  his  camp. 
After  setting  fire  to  the  dry  stump,  he  collected  a  quantity 
of  fir  or  spruce  boughs,  with  which  he  constructed  a 
sort  of  a  rude  couch  or  platform  on  the  snow.  Stretched 
upon  his  bed  of  boughs,  with  his  feet  to  his  fire,  and  his 
head  resting  upon  one  of  Uncle  Sam's  mail  bags,  he 
slept  as  soundly  as  if  occupying  the  best  bed  ever  made; 
though,  perhaps,  beneath  his  couch,  there  was  a  depth 
of  from  ten  to  thirty  feet  of  snow. 

"  When  unable  to  find  a  dry  stump,  he  looked  for  a 
dead  pine  tree.  He  always  selected  a  tree  that  had  a 
decided  lean.  If  he  could  avoid  it,  he  never  made 
his  camp  beside  a  tree  that  was  perfectly  straight. 
For  this  there  was  a  good  reason.  It  very  often  hap- 
pened that  the  tree  set  on  fire  in  the  evening  was  burned 
through,  and  fell  to  the  ground  before  morning.  When 
he  had  a  leaning  tree,  at  the  foot  of  which  to  encamp,  he 
was  able  to  make  his  bed  on  the  safe  side;  but  when  the 
tree  stood  perfectly  erect,  he  knew  not  on  which  side 
of  it  to  build  his  couch.  It  not  infrequently  happened 
that  he  was  aroused  from  sleep  in  the  morning  hours 
by  the  loud  cracking  of  the  tree  at  the  foot  of  which 
he  was  reposing,  and  he  was  then  obliged  to  do  some 
fast  as  well  as  judicious  running,  in  order  to  save  his 
life.  This  was  a  bit  of  excitement  that  he  did  not 
crave  when  wearied  with  a  hard  day's  travel. 

"  However,  he  did  not  always  camp  by  trees  and 
stumps.  He  sometimes  crawled  under  shelving  rocks, 


SNOW-SHOE  THOMPSON  203 

and  there  made  his  bed  of  boughs,  building  a  small  fire 
on  the  bare  ground  in  front  of  it.  At  a  place  called 
Cottage  Rock,  six  miles  below  Strawberry  Valley,  he 
had  a  small,  dry  cavern,  in  the  shape  of  an  oven,  in 
which  he  was  in  the  habit  of  housing,  as  often  as  he 
could  make  it  convenient  to  do  so.  There,  his  bed  of 
boughs  was  always  ready  for  him.  Curled  up  hi  his 
cavern  —  which  was  but  little  larger  than  an  ordinary 
baker's  oven  —  with  a  fire  of  blazing  logs  in  front,  he 
slept  in  comfort  and  safety.  He  only  camped  when  he 
felt  the  necessity  of  obtaining  sleep,  and  when  suffi- 
ciently refreshed  by  his  slumbers  was  in  the  habit  of 
arising  and  pursuing  his  journey,  whatever  the  hour  of 
the  day  or  night,  provided  that  a  blinding  snowstorm 
and  utter  darkness  did  not  prevail." 

In  all  of  his  experiences,  through  darkness  and  storms, 
fog  and  blizzard,  he  was  never  once  known  to  have  lost 
his  way.  He  accounted  for  this  by  an  intuitive  sense. 
He  used  to  affirm,  not  boastingly,  but  as  a  matter  of 
fact:  "  I  was  never  lost  —  I  can't  be  lost.  I  can  go 
anywhere  in  the  mountains,  day  or  night,  storm  or 
shine.  I  can't  be  lost."  Then  tapping  his  forehead 
with  his  forefinger,  he  continued:  "  There's  something 
in  here  which  keeps  me  right." 

It  has  often  been  remarked  that  "  republics  are 
ungrateful,"  and  in  Thompson's  case  the  aphorism  was 
well  justified.  As  Mr.  Wright  says: 

"  Snow-shoe  Thompson  was  one  of  those  unfortunate 
persons  whose  lot  hi  life  is  to  do  a  great  deal  of  work 
and  endure  many  hardships  for  very  little  pay.  For 
twenty  winters  he  carried  the  mails  across  the  Sierra 


204  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

Nevada  Mountains,  at  times  when  they  could  have  been 
transported  in  no  other  way  than  on  snow-shoes. 
After  he  began  the  business  he  made  his  home  in  the 
mountains,  having  secured  a  ranch  in  Diamond  Valley, 
when  for  five  winters  in  succession  he  was  constantly 
engaged  in  carrying  the  mails  across  the  snowy  range. 
Two  years  he  carried  the  United  States  mails  when 
there  was  no  contract  for  that  service,  and  he  got 
nothing.  On  both  sides  of  the  mountains  he  was  told 
that  an  appropriation  would  be  made  and  all  would 
come  out  right  with  him;  but  he  got  nothing  except 
promises. 

"  When  Chorpenning  had  the  contract  for  carrying 
the  mails,  Thompson  turned  out  with  the  oxen  from 
his  ranch  and  kept  the  roads  open  for  a  long  time; 
and  when  there  at  last  came  such  a  depth  of  snow  that 
the  road  could  no  longer  be  broken,  he  mounted  his 
snow-shoes  and  carried  the  mails  on  his  back.  Chor- 
penning failed,  and  Thompson  never  received  a  dime 
for  his  work. 

"  First  and  last,  he  did  a  vast  deal  of  work  for  noth- 
ing. Some  seasons  our  overland  mail  would  not  have 
reached  California  during  the  whole  whiter,  had  not 
Thompson  turned  out  on  his  snow-shoes  and  carried 
the  sack  across  the  mountains.  He  took  pride  in  the 
work.  It  challenged  the  spirit  of  adventure  within  him. 
It  was  like  going  forth  to  battle,  and  each  successive 
trip  was  a  victory.  This  being  his  feeling,  he  was  all 
the  more  readily  made  to  believe  that  in  case  he  turned 
in  and  did  the  work,  he  would  eventually  be  paid. 
As  Mr.  Thompson  approached  his  fiftieth  year,  he 


SNOW-SHOE  THOMPSON  205 

began  to  think  that  in  his  old  age  he  ought  to  receive 
something  from  the  government  in  reward  for  the 
services  he  had  performed.  He  asked  but  six  thousand 
dollars  for  all  he  had  done  and  endured  during  the 
twenty  years.  His  petition  to  Congress  was  signed  by 
all  the  State  and  other  officials  at  Carson  City,  and  by 
everyone  else  that  was  asked  to  sign  it.  In  the  winter 
of  1874  he  went  to  Washington  to  look  after  his  claim, 
but  all  he  got  was  promises. 

"  Thompson  was  a  man  of  splendid  physique,  stand- 
ing six  feet  in  his  stockings  and  weighing  one  hundred 
and  eighty  pounds.  His  features  were  large,  but  regular 
and  handsome.  He  had  the  blond  hair  and  beard, 
and  fair  skin  and  blue  eyes  of  his  Scandinavian  an- 
cestors, and  looked  a  true  descendant  of  the  sea-roving 
Northmen  of  old.  Although  he  spoke  English  as  well 
as  a  native-born  American,  one  would  not  have  been 
surprised  to  have  heard  him  break  forth  in  the  old 
Norse.  Had  he  lived  in  the  days  when  his  ancestors 
were  carrying  terror  to  all  the  coasts  of  Europe,  he 
would  have  been  a  leader,  if  not  a  king,  among  them. 
On  the  sea  he  would  have  been  what  he  was  in  the 
mountains  —  a  man  most  adventurous,  fearless,  and 
unconquerable. 

"  He  died  at  his  ranch  in  Diamond  Valley,  thirty 
miles  south  of  Carson  City,  Nevada,  May  15,  1876, 
after  an  illness  of  but  a  few  days,  and  when  he  was 
but  forty-nine  years  and  fifteen  days  old.  His  tomb 
is  in  Genoa,  where  a  stone,  on  the  top  of  which 
is  carved  a  pair  of  snow-shoes,  was  erected  by  his 
widow. 


206  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

"  He  was  the  father  of  all  the  race  of  snow-shoers 
in  the  Sierra  Nevadas;  and  in  those  mountains  he  was 
the  pioneer  of  the  pack-train,  the  stage-coach  and  the 
locomotive.  On  the  Pacific  Coast  his  equal  in  his 
particular  line  will  probably  never  again  be  seen. 
The  times  and  conditions  are  past  and  gone  that  called 
for  men  possessing  the  special  qualifications  that  made 
him  famous." 


CHAPTER   XXII 

THE    MOUNTAIN-CLIMBING     HEROES     OF    THE     SIERRAS, 
CLARENCE    KING   AND   RICHARD   COTTER 

IN  a  certain  library  is  one  whole  shelf  of  large  books 
in  reddish  binding  titled  Annual  Reports  0}  the 
United  States  Geological  Survey.  At  the  head  of  the 
row  is  a  small  —  and  compared  with  the  others,  insig- 
nificant —  volume.  It  has  no  great  intrinsic  value,  and 
yet,  to  some  people,  that  volume  is  more  interesting 
than  any  of  the  others,  for  the  reason  that  it  is  the  First 
Annual  Report  of  the  Geological  Survey,  and  bears 
the  name  of  a  different  director  from  any  of  the  others. 
Clarence  King  was  the  first  director  of  the  great  scien- 
tific institution  that  was  afterwards  fully  organized 
by  that  one-armed  science- hero  of  Gettysburg  —  Major 
J.  W.  Powell;  and  he  is  intimately  associated  with 
California  and  dear  to  Calif ornians  because,  in  1871, 
he  published  a  volume  —  Mountaineering  in  the  Sierra 
Nevada  —  that  is  one  of  the  classics  of  English  literature. 
But,  different  from  many  classics,  this  book  is  pulsating 
with  fresh  life.  It  is  full  of  red  blood,  and  out-of-doors 
and  climbing  and  riding  and  adventure  that  thrills  one 
as  he  reads.  One  of  California's  living  authors  of 
renown  says  there  is  but  one  book  in  her  library  that 
she  cares  to  read  every  year,  and  that  book  is  King's 
Mountaineering.  This  book,  to  some  readers,  is  full  of 


208  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

that  unconscious  heroism,  where  the  true  hero  writes 
simply  and  naively  of  great  deeds,  dismisses  them  with- 
out a  word  of  comment,  and  leaves  you  to  discover 
them  for  yourself.  Hence,  some  parts  of  it  are  worthy 
of  being  read  many  times  a  year,  as  a  few  quotations 
may  prove. 

The  Geological  Survey  of  California  came  into  ex- 
istence in  1 86 1,  under  the  guidance  of  Professor  Josiah 
Whitney.  It  worked  for  about  eleven  years  and  was  then 
practically  given  up,  —  nor  has  it  since  been  resumed. 

One  morning  in  1864  Professor  Brewer  and  his 
assistant,  Hoffman  (after  whom  two  majestic  moun- 
tains in  the  Sierra  are  named),  attempted  to  reach  the 
highest  point  in  the  range.  They  returned  at  night, 
terribly  fatigued.  "  For  eight  whole  hours  they  had 
worked  up  over  granite  and  snow,  mounting  ridge 
after  ridge,  till  the  summit  was  reached  about  two 
o'clock,"  writes  Clarence  King. 

"  These  snowy  crests  bounding  our  view  at  the  east- 
ward we  had  all  along  taken  to  be  the  summits  of  the 
Sierras,  and  Brewer  had  supposed  himself  to  be  climbing 
a  dominant  peak,  from  which  he  might  look  eastward 
over  Owen's  Valley  and  out  upon  leagues  of  desert. 
Instead  of  this,  a  vast  wall  of  mountains,  lifted  still 
higher  than  his  peak,  rose  beyond  a  tremendous  can- 
yon, which  lay  like  a  trough  between  the  two  parallel 
ranks  of  peaks.  Hoffman  showed  us  on  his  sketch- 
book the  profile  of  his  new  range,  and  I  instantly 
recognized  the  peaks  which  I  had  seen  from  Mariposa, 
whose  great  white  pile  had  led  me  to  believe  them  the 
highest  point  in  California. 


KING  AND  COTTER  209 

"  Their  peak,  as  indicated  by  the  barometer,  was 
in  the  region  of  thirteen  thousand,  four  hundred  feet, 
and  a  level  across  to  the  farther  range  showed  its 
crests  to  be  at  least  fifteen  hundred  feet  higher.  They 
had  spent  hours  upon  the  summit  scanning  the  eastern 
horizon,  and  ranging  downward  into  the  labyrinth  of 
gulfs  below,  and  had  come  at  last  with  reluctance  to  the 
belief  that  to  cross  this  gorge  and  ascend  the  eastern 
wall  of  peaks  was  impossible. 

"  Brewer  and  Hoffman  were  old  climbers,  and  their 
verdict  of  impossible  oppressed  me  as  I  lay  awake  think- 
ing of  it;  but  early  next  morning  I  had  made  up  my 
mind,  and,  taking  Cotter  aside,  I  asked  him  in  an  easy 
manner  whether  he  would  like  to  penetrate  the  terra 
incognita  with  me  at  the  risk  of  our  necks,  provided 
Brewer  should  consent.  In  a  frank,  courageous  tone 
he  answered,  after  his  usual  mode,  '  Why  not  ?  '  Stout 
of  limb,  stronger  yet  in  heart,  of  iron  endurance  and 
a  quiet,  unexcited  temperament,  and,  better  yet,  de- 
voted to  me,  I  felt  that  Cotter  was  the  one  comrade 
I  would  choose  to  face  death  with,  for  I  believed 
there  was  in  his  manhood  no  room  for  fear  or 
shirk." 

Brewer  finally  gave  his  consent,  though  not  with- 
out reluctance,  and  the  trip  was  successfully  made. 
Several  times,  both  on  the  ascent  and  the  descent,  they 
came  to  the  places  which  try  men's  souls.  They  had 
lively  work  in  crossing  King's  Canyon  and  came  at 
last  to  a  spot  where,  "  Looking  down  over  the  course  we 
had  come,  it  seemed  and  I  really  believe  it  was,  an 
impossible  descent;  for  one  can  climb  upward  with 


210  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

safety  where  he  cannot  downward.  To  turn  back  was 
to  give  up  in  defeat;  and  we  sat  at  least  half  an  hour, 
suggesting  all  sorts  of  routes  to  the  summit,  accepting 
none  and  feeling  disheartened.  About  thirty  feet  over 
our  heads  was  another  shelf,  which,  if  we  could  reach, 
seemed  to  offer  at  least  a  temporary  way  upward.  On 
its  edge  were  two  or  three  spikes  of  granite;  whether 
firmly  connected  with  the  cliff,  or  merely  blocks  of 
debris,  we  could  not  tell  from  below.  I  said  to  Cotter, 
I  thought  of  but  one  possible  plan:  it  was  to  lasso  one 
of  these  blocks,  and  to  climb,  sailor-fashion,  hand 
over  hand,  up  the  rope.  In  the  lasso  I  had  perfect 
confidence,  for  I  had  seen  more  than  one  Spanish  bull 
throw  his  whole  weight  against  it  without  parting  a 
strand.  The  shelf  was  so  narrow  that  throwing  the 
coil  of  rope  was  a  very  difficult  undertaking.  I  tried 
three  times,  and  Cotter  spent  five  minutes  vainly  whirl- 
ing the  loop  up  at  the  granite  spikes.  At  last  I  made  a 
lucky  throw,  and  it  tightened  upon  one  of  the  smaller 
protuberances.  I  drew  the  noose  close,  and  very  gradu- 
ally threw  my  hundred  and  fifty  pounds  upon  the  rope; 
then  Cotter  joined  me,  and  for  a  moment  we  both  hung 
our  united  weight  upon  it.  Whether  the  rock  moved 
slightly,  or  whether  the  lasso  stretched  a  little  we  were 
unable  to  decide;  but  the  trial  must  be  made,  and  I 
began  to  climb  slowly.  The  smooth  precipice-face 
against  which  my  body  swung  offered  no  foothold,  and 
the  whole  climb  had  therefore  to  be  done  by  the  arms, 
an  effort  requiring  all  one's  determination.  When  about 
half-way  up  I  was  obliged  to  rest,  and,  curling  my  feet 
in  the  rope,  managed  to  relieve  my  arms  for  a  moment. 


KING  AND  COTTER  211 

In  this  position  I  could  not  resist  the  fascinating  tempta- 
tion of  a  survey  downward. 

"  Straight  down,  nearly  a  thousand  feet  below,  at 
the  foot  of  the  rocks,  began  the  snow,  whose  steep, 
roof- like  slope,  exaggerated  into  an  almost  vertical 
angle,  curved  down  in  a  long,  white  field,  broken  far 
away  by  rocks  and  polished,  round  lakes  of  ice. 

"  Cotter  looked  up  cheerfully,  and  asked  how  I  was 
making  it;  to  which  I  answered  that  I  had  plenty  of 
wind  left.  At  that  moment,  when  hanging  between 
heaven  and  earth,  it  was  a  deep  satisfaction  to  look 
down  at  the  wild  gtilf  of  desolation  beneath,  and  up 
to  unknown  dangers  ahead,  and  feel  my  nerves  cool 
and  unshaken. 

"  A  few  pulls  hand  over  hand  brought  me  to  the  edge 
of  the  shelf,  when,  throwing  an  arm  around  the  granite 
spike,  I  swung  my  body  upon  the  shelf,  and  lay  down 
to  rest,  shouting  to  Cotter  that  I  was  all  right,  and  that 
the  prospects  upward  were  capital.  After  a  few  mo- 
ments' breathing  I  looked  over  the  brink,  and  directed 
my  comrade  to  tie  the  barometer  to  the  lower  end 
of  the  lasso,  which  he  did,  and  that  precious  instrument 
was  hoisted  to  my  station,  and  the  lasso  sent  down 
twice  for  knapsacks,  after  which  Cotter  came  up  the  rope 
in  his  very  muscular  way,  without  once  stopping  to 
rest." 

They  reached  the  dividing  ridge  up  which  they  had 
hoped  to  go  to  reach  the  summit,  and  found  it  impracti- 
cable. There  seemed  but  one  way  open  to  them. 
That  was  to  descend  into  Kern  Canyon  and  make  the 
ascent  that  way. 


212  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

"  One  look  at  the  sublime  white  giant  decided  us. 
We  looked  down  over  the  precipice,  and  at  first  could 
see  no  method  of  descent.  Then  we  went  back  and 
looked  at  the  road  we  had  come  up,  to  see  if  that  were 
not  possibly  as  bad;  but  the  broken  surface  of  the 
rocks  was  evidently  much  better  climbing-ground  than 
anything  ahead  of  us.  Cotter,  with  danger,  edged  his 
way  along  the  wall  to  the  east  and  I  to  the  west,  to  see 
if  there  might  not  be  some  favorable  point;  but  we 
both  returned  with  the  belief  that  the  precipice  in  front 
of  us  was  as  passable  as  any  of  it.  Down  it  we  must 

go- 

"  After  lying  on  our  faces,  looking  over  the  brink, 

ten  or  twenty  minutes,  I  suggested  that  by  lowering 
ourselves  on  the  rope  we  might  climb  from  crevice 
to  crevice;  but  we  saw  no  shelf  large  enough  for  our- 
selves and  knapsacks  too.  However,  we  were  not 
going  to  give  it  up  without  a  trial;  and  I  made  the 
rope  fast  around  my  breast,  and,  looping  the  noose  over 
a  firm  point  of  rock,  let  myself  slide  gradually  down 
to  a  notch  forty  feet  below.  There  was  only  room  be- 
side me  for  Cotter,  so  I  made  him  send  down  the  knap- 
sacks first.  I  then  tied  these  together  by  the  straps 
with  my  silk  handkerchiefs,  and  hung  them  off  as  far 
to  the  left  as  I  could  reach  without  losing  my  balance, 
looping  the  handkerchiefs  over  a  point  of  rock.  Cotter 
then  slid  down  the  rope,  and,  with  considerable  diffi- 
culty, we  whipped  the  noose  off  its  resting-place  above, 
and  cut  off  our  connection  with  the  upper  world. 

"  '  We're  in  for  it  now,  King,'  remarked  my  com- 
rade, as  he  looked  aloft,  and  then  down;  but  our  blood 


THEODORE    D.   JUDAH. 


Page  222 


THE    HIGH    SIERRA,    CAT  IFORNIA,    CROSSED    BY   THE    CENTRAL 
PACIFIC    RAILWAY. 

Page  223 


THE    HIGH    SIERRAS    SURVEYED    BY  THEODORE   JUDAH. 


Page  223 


KING  AND  COTTER  213 

was  up,  and  danger  added  only  an  exhilarating  thrill 
to  the  nerves. 

"  The  shelf  was  hardly  more  than  two  feet  wide, 
and  the  granite  so  smooth  that  we  could  find  no  place  to 
fasten  the  lasso  for  the  next  descent;  so  I  determined 
to  try  the  climb  with  only  as  little  aid  as  possible.  Ty- 
ing it  around  my  breast  again,  I  gave  the  other  end 
into  Cotter's  hands,  and  he,  bracing  his  back  against 
the  cliff,  found  for  himself  as  firm  a  foothold  as  he 
could,  and  promised  to  give  me  all  the  help  in  his 
power.  I  made  up  my  mind  to  bear  no  weight  unless 
it  was  absolutely  necessary;  and  for  the  first  ten  feet 
I  found  cracks  and  protuberances  enough  to  support 
me,  making  every  square  inch  of  surface  do  friction 
duty,  and  hugging  myself  against  the  rocks  as  tightly 
as  I  could.  When  within  about  eight  feet  of  the  next 
shelf,  I  twisted  myself  round  upon  the  face,  hanging 
by  two  rough  blocks  of  protruding  feldspar,  and  look- 
ing vainly  for  some  further  hand- hold;  but  the  rock, 
besides  being  perfectly  smooth,  overhung  slightly,  and 
my  legs  dangled  in  the  air.  I  saw  that  the  next  cleft 
was  over  three  feet  broad,  and  I  thought  possibly  I 
might,  by  a  quick  slide,  reach  it  in  safety  without  en- 
dangering Cotter.  I  shouted  to  him  to  be  very  careful 
and  let  go  in  case  I  fell,  loosened  my  hold  upon  the  rope 
and  slid  quickly  down.  My  shoulder  struck  against  the 
rock  and  threw  me  out  of  balance;  for  an  instant  I 
reeled  over  upon  the  verge,  in  danger  of  falling,  but, 
in  the  excitement,  I  thrust  out  my  hand  and  seized  a 
small  Alpine  gooseberry-bush,  the  first  piece  of  vege- 
tation we  had  seen.  Its  roots  were  so  firmly  fixed 


2i4  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

in  the  crevice  that  it  held  ray  weight  and  saved 
me. 

"  I  could  no  longer  see  Cotter,  but  I  talked  to  him, 
and  heard  the  two  knapsacks  come  bumping  along  till 
they  slid  over  the  eaves  above  me,  and  swung  down  to 
my  station,  when  I  seized  the  lasso's  end  and  braced 
myself  as  well  as  possible,  intending,  if  he  slipped,  to 
haul  in  slack  and  help  him  as  best  I  might.  As  he  came 
slowly  down  from  crack  to  crack,  I  heard  his  hobnailed 
shoes  grating  on  the  granite;  presently  they  appeared 
dangling  from  the  eaves  above  my  head.  I  had  gath- 
ered in  the  rope  until  it  was  taut,  and  then  hurriedly 
told  him  to  drop.  He  hesitated  a  moment,  and  let  go. 
Before  he  struck  the  rock  I  had  him  by  the  shoulder, 
and  whirled  him  down  upon  his  side,  thus  preventing 
his  rolling  overboard,  which  friendly  action  he  took 
quite  coolly. 

"  The  third  descent  was  not  a  difficult  one,  nor  the 
fourth;  but  when  we  had  climbed  down  about  two 
hundred  and  fifty  feet,  the  rocks  were  so  glacially  pol- 
ished and  water- worn  that  it  seemed  impossible  to  get 
any  farther.  To  our  right  was  a  crack  penetrating 
the  rock,  perhaps  a  foot  deep,  widening  at  the  surface 
to  three  or  four  inches,  which  proved  to  be  the  only 
possible  ladder.  As  the  chances  seemed  rather  des- 
perate, we  concluded  to  tie  ourselves  together,  in  order 
to  share  a  common  fate;  and  with  a  slack  of  thirty  feet 
between  us,  and  our  knapsacks  upon  our  backs,  we 
climbed  into  the  crevice,  and  began  descending  with 
our  faces  to  the  cliff.  This  had  to  be  done  with  un- 
usual caution,  for  the  foothold  was  about  as  good  as 


KING  AND  COTTER  215 

none,  and  our  fingers  slipped  annoyingly  on  the  smooth 
stone;  besides,  the  knapsacks  and  instruments  kept  a 
steady  backward  pull,  tending  to  overbalance  us.  But 
we  took  pains  to  descend  one  at  a  time,  and  rest  where- 
ever  the  niches  gave  our  feet  a  safe  support.  In  this 
way  we  got  down  about  eighty  feet  of  smooth,  nearly 
vertical  wall,  reaching  the  top  of  a  rude  granite  stairway, 
which  led  to  the  snow;  and  here  we  sat  down  to  rest, 
and  found  to  our  astonishment  that  we  had  been 
three  hours  from  the  summit. 

"  After  breathing  a  half  minute  we  continued  down, 
jumping  from  rock  to  rock,  and  having,  by  practice, 
become  very  expert  hi  balancing  ourselves,  sprang 
on,  never  resting  long  enough  to  lose  the  aplomb; 
and  in  this  manner  made  a  quick  descent  over  rugged 
debris  to  the  crest  of  a  snow-field,  which,  for  seven  or 
eight  hundred  feet  more,  swept  down  in  a  smooth,  even 
slope,  of  very  high  angle,  to  the  borders  of  a  frozen  lake. 

"  Without  untying  the  lasso  which  bound  us  to- 
gether, we  sprang  upon  the  snow  with  a  shout,  and 
glissaded  down  splendidly,  turning  now  and  then  a 
somersault,  and  shooting  out  like  cannon-balls  almost 
to  the  middle  of  the  frozen  lake;  I  upon  my  back,  and 
Cotter  feet  first,  in  a  swimming  position.  The  ice 
cracked  in  all  directions.  It  was  only  a  thin,  trans- 
parent film,  through  which  we  could  see  deep  into  the 
lake.  Untying  ourselves,  we  hurried  ashore  in  different 
directions,  lest  our  combined  weight  should  be  too 
great  a  strain  upon  any  point." 

There  was  plenty  more  of  excitement  before  they 
reached  the  summit.  When  they  did  so,  King  says: 


216  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

"I  rang  my  hammer  upon  the  topmost  rock;  we 
grasped  hands,  and  I  reverently  named  the  grand  peak 
MOUNT  TYNDALL." 

Now  came  the  descent.  At  one  place  "  the  rock 
was  so  steep  that  we  descended  in  a  sitting  posture, 
clinging  with  our  hands  and  heels.  I  heard  Cotter  say, 
'  I  think  I  must  take  off  these  moccasins  and  try  it  bare- 
footed, for  I  don't  believe  I  can  make  it.'  These  words 
were  instantly  followed  by  a  startled  cry,  and  I  looked 
round  to  see  him  slide  quickly  towrard  me,  struggling 
and  clutching  at  the  smooth  granite.  As  he  slid  by, 
I  made  a  grab  for  him  with  my  right  hand,  catching 
him  by  the  shirt,  and,  throwing  myself  as  far  in  the 
other  direction  as  I  could,  seized  with  my  left  hand  a 
little  pine  tuft,  which  held  us.  I  asked  Cotter  to  edge 
along  a  little  to  the  left,  where  he  could  get  a  brace 
with  his  feet  and  relieve  me  of  his  wreight,  wrhich  he 
cautiously  did.  I  then  threw  a  couple  of  turns  with  the 
lasso  round  the  roots  of  the  pine  bush,  and  we  were 
safe,  though  hardly  more  than  twenty  feet  from  the 
brink.  The  pressure  of  curiosity  to  get  a  look  over 
that  edge  was  so  strong  within  me  that  I  lengthened 
out  sufficient  lasso  to  reach  the  end,  and  slid  slowly 
to  the  edge,  where,  leaning  over,  I  looked  down,  getting 
a  full  view  of  the  \vall  for  miles.  Directly  beneath,  a 
sheer  cliff  of  three  or  four  hundred  feet  stretched  down 
to  a  pile  of  debris  which  rose  to  unequal  heights  along 
its  face,  reaching  the  very  crest  not  more  than  a  hundred 
feet  south  of  us." 

There  was  still  excitement  ahead.  They  came  to  a 
place  where  King's  River  dashed,  "  a  broad,  white 


KING  AND  COTTER  217 

torrent,  fretting  its  way  along  the  bottom  of  an  im- 
passable gorge.  .  .  .  To  the  south  of  us,  a  little  way 
up  stream,  the  river  flowed  out  from  a  broad,  oval  lake, 
three-quarters  of  a  mile  in  length,  which  occupied  the 
bottom  of  the  granite  basin.  Unable  to  cross  the  tor- 
rent, we  must  either  swim  the  lake  or  climb  around  its 
head.  .  .  . 

"  Around  the  head  of  the  lake  were  crags  and  prec- 
ipices in  singularly  forbidding  arrangement.  As  we 
turned  thither  we  saw  no  possible  way  of  overcoming 
them.  At  its  head  the  lake  lay  in  an  angle  of  the  vertical 
wall,  sharp  and  straight  like  the  corner  of  a  room; 
about  three  hundred  feet  in  height,  and  for  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  feet  of  this  a  pyramidal  pile  of  blue  ice 
rose  from  the  lake,  rested  against  the  corner,  and 
reached  within  forty  feet  of  the  top.  Looking  into  the 
deep  blue  water  of  the  lake,  I  concluded  that  in  our 
exhausted  state  it  was  madness  to  attempt  to  swim  it. 
The  only  alternative  was  to  scale  that  slender  pyramid 
of  ice  and  find  some  way  to  climb  the  forty  feet  of 
smooth  wall  above  it.  ... 

"  We  found  the  ice-angle  difficultly  steep "... 
but  finally  reached  its  top.  There  "  we  found  a  narrow, 
level  platform,  upon  which  we  stood  together,  resting 
our  backs  in  the  granite  corner,  and  looked  down  the 
awful  pathway  of  King's  Canyon,  until  the  rest  nerved 
us  up  enough  to  turn  our  eyes  upward  at  the  forty  feet 
of  smooth  granite  which  lay  between  us  and  safety. 
Here  and  there  were  small  projections  from  the 
surface,  little,  protruding  knobs  of  feldspar,  and 
crevices  riven  into  its  face  for  a  few  inches. 


218  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

"  As  we  tied  ourselves  together,  I  told  Cotter  to  hold 
himself  in  readiness  to  jump  down  into  one  of  these 
in  case  I  fell,  and  started  to  climb  up  the  wall,  succeed- 
ing quite  well  for  about  twenty  feet.  About  two  feet 
above  my  hands  was  a  crack,  which,  if  my  arms  had 
been  long  enough  to  reach,  would  probably  have  led 
me  to  the  very  top;  but  I  judged  it  beyond  my  powers, 
and,  with  great  care,  descended  to  the  side  of  Cotter, 
who  believed  that  his  superior  length  of  arm  would 
enable  him  to  make  the  reach. 

"  I  planted  myself  against  the  rock,  and  he  started 
cautiously  up  the  wall.  Looking  down  the  glare  front 
of  ice,  it  was  not  pleasant  to  consider  at  what  velocity 
a  slip  would  send  me  to  the  bottom,  or  at  what  angle, 
and  to  what  probable  depth,  I  should  be  projected  into 
the  ice- water.  Indeed,  the  idea  of  such  a  sudden  bath 
was  so  annoying  that  I  lifted  my  eyes  towards  my  com- 
panion. He  reached  my  farthest  point  without  great 
difficulty,  and  made  a  bold  spring  forthe  crack,  reaching 
it  without  an  inch  to  spare,  and  holding  on  wholly  by 
his  fingers.  He  thus  worked  himself  slowly  along  the 
crack  toward  the  top,  at  last  getting  his  arms  over  the 
brink,  and  gradually  drawing  his  body  up  and  out  of 
sight.  It  was  the  most  splendid  piece  of  slow  gymnas- 
tics I  ever  witnessed.  For  a  moment  he  said  nothing; 
but  when  I  asked  if  he  was  all  right,  cheerfully  re- 
peated '  All  right.' 

"  It  was  only  a  moment's  work  to  send  up  the  two 
knapsacks  and  barometer,  and  receive  again  my  end 
of  the  lasso.  As  I  tied  it  round  my  breast,  Cotter  said 
to  me,  in  an  easy,  confident  tone,  '  Don't  be  afraid 


KING  AND  COTTER  219 

to  bear  your  weight.'  I  made  up  my  mind,  however, 
to  make  that  climb  without  his  aid,  and  husbanded  my 
strength  as  I  climbed  from  crack  to  crack.  I  got  up 
without  difficulty  to  my  former  point,  rested  there  a  mo- 
ment, hanging  solely  by  my  hands,  gathered  every 
pound  of  strength  and  atom  of  will  for  the  reach,  then 
jerked  myself  upward  with  a  swing,  just  getting  the  tips 
of  my  fingers  into  the  crack.  In  an  instant  I  had 
grasped  it  with  my  right  hand  also.  I  felt  the  sinews 
of  my  fingers  relax  a  little,  but  the  picture  of  the  slope 
of  ice  and  the  blue  lake  affected  me  so  strongly  that  I 
redoubled  my  grip,  and  climbed  slowly  along  the  crack 
until  I  reached  the  angle  and  got  one  arm  over  the  edge 
as  Cotter  had  done.  As  I  rested  my  body  upon  the 
edge  and  l6oked  up  at  Cotter,  I  saw  that,  instead  of  a 
level  top,  he  was  sitting  upon  a  smooth,  roof-like  slope, 
where  the  least  pull  would  have  dragged  him  over  the 
brink.  He  had  no  brace  for  his  feet,  nor  hold  for  his 
hands,  but  had  seated  himself  calmly,  with  the  rope  tied 
around  his  breast,  knowing  that  my  only  safety  lay 
in  being  able  to  make  the  climb  entirely  unaided; 
certain  that  the  least  waver  in  his  tone  would  have  dis- 
heartened me,  and  perhaps  made  it  impossible.  The 
shock  I  received  on  seeing  this  affected  me  for  a  mo- 
ment, but  not  enough  to  throw  me  off  my  guard,  and  I 
climbed  quickly  over  the  edge.  When  we  had  walked 
back  out  of  danger  we  sat  down  upon  the  granite  for 
a  rest. 

"  In  all  my  experience  of  mountaineering  I  have  never 
known  an  act  of  such  real,  profound  courage  as  this 
of  Cotter's.  It  is  one  thing,  in  a  moment  of  excitement, 


220  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

to  make  a  gallant  leap,  or  hold  one's  nerves  in  the  iron 
grasp  of  will,  but  to  coolly  seat  one's  self  in  the  door 
of  death,  and  silently  listen  for  the  fatal  summons, 
and  this  all  for  a  friend,  —  for  he  might  easily  have 
cast  loose  the  lasso  and  saved  himself,  —  requires  as 
sublime  a  type  of  courage  as  I  know." 

It  was  in  this  fashion  and  by  such  men  that  the 
exploring  of  the  mountains  of  California  was  accom- 
plished, and  to  read  Clarence  King's  book  is  to  bathe 
one's  self,  not  only  in  the  largeness  of  the  wide  land- 
scapes of  California's  out-of-doors,  but  also  in  the  large- 
ness of  heart  of  extraordinary  men. 


CHAPTER   XXIII 

THE    ENGINEERING    HERO    OF   THE    SIERRAS,    THEO- 
DORE   D.    JUDAH 

IN  a  gigantic  enterprise  there  is  often  scope  for  the 
widest  exercise  of  several  varieties  of  genius.  As 
the  next  chapter  will  show,  the  building  of  the  Central 
Pacific  Railroad  developed  a  commanding  genius  of 
finance,  —  Huntington;  a  genius  of  equal  calibre  as  a 
constructor,  —  Crocker;  another  genius  as  a  politician 
to  remove  obstacles,  —  Stanford;  and  still  another,  as 
a  watch-dog  of  its  own  treasury,  —  Hopkins.  Each 
man  stands  out  conspicuous;  and  Huntington,  Stan- 
ford and  Crocker  especially  are  more  than  local  char- 
acters. They  loom  large  as  celebrities,  and  their  names 
are  already  written  boldly  and  broadly  in  the  nation's 
autograph  album  of  great  men. 

But  another  name,  though  less  known,  is  equally 
entitled  to  this  honor,  in  connection  with  the  work  of 
organizing  the  Central  Pacific  Railroad.  The  work  of 
this  man  was  earlier,  and  in  many  respects  more  exact- 
ing, more  arduous,  and  required  greater  knowledge 
and  greater  skill  in  handling  men.  Not  only  that; 
it  must  also  be  recognized  that  his  was  the  far-seeing 
vision,  the  prophetic  soul  that  fired  into  life  the  com- 
mercial instincts  of  the  other  four  geniuses  who  bore 
the  burden  of  actually  achieving  what  he  had  the 


222  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

daring  to  conceive,  the  ability  to  plan,  and  the  wisdom 
to  urge.  This  man,  who  for  all  time  should  stand  as 
a  moral  hero  to  young  Californians,  was  Theodore  D. 
Judah.  He  was  young  when  he  died,  for  the  toll  of  his 
years  was  but  thirty-seven.  Thirty-seven,  and  yet  he 
had  accomplished  so  much!  Born  in  Bridgeport, 
Connecticut,  he  was  induced  to  come  to  California  in 
1853  to  superintend  the  selection  of  a  route  and  con- 
struction of  a  railroad  from  Sacramento  to  the  northern 
mines.  Sacramento,  as  the  chief  city  at  the  head  of 
navigation,  was  to  be  the  starting-point,  and  the  rail- 
way was  to  cross  the  Sacramento  valley,  strike  the 
foot-hills  of  the  Sierra  Nevadas,  and  then  proceed  north 
to  the  mines.  In  the  face  of  the  great  cost  of  labor  — 
who  was  going  to  work  making  railroad  grades  for  a 
few  dollars  a  day  when  he  might  work  at  the  mines 
and  perhaps  become  a  millionaire  ?  —  and  the  equally 
great  cost  of  materials,  all  of  which  had  to  be  trans- 
ported from  the  East  either  around  Cape  Horn,  or 
across  the  Isthmus,  the  first  twenty-three  miles  was 
constructed  to  Folsom,  and,  with  much  rejoicing,  on 
February  22,  1856,  the  opening  ceremonies  were 
held.  But  it  stopped  there!  By  1856  the  mines  were 
less  profitable  than  they  had  been  in  1848,  1849  and 
1850,  and  the  new  railroad  was  not  doing  the  business 
its  promoters  anticipated. 

In  the  meantime  Mr.  Judah  was  studying  the  field. 
In  his  native  Connecticut  he  had  never  seen  such  moun- 
tains as  these  California  Sierras.  How  they  shouldered 
their  way  up  to  the  sky!  How  they  dominated  the 
valley!  How  proudly  their  snow-crested  summits 


THEODORE  D.   JUDAH  223 

fellowshiped  with  the  sun!  What  a  barrier  they  were 
between  the  here  and  the  —  what  was  beyond.  By 
and  by,  their  very  presence  became  a  challenge  to 
Judah,  and  he  determined  to  solve  their  mysteries, 
and  to  know  what  was  beyond  them;  then  his  engi- 
neering pride  was  aroused,  and  he  determined  to  find 
a  way  to  scale  them  with  a  railroad. 

One  day  he  secured  a  holiday  and  took  a  stage  ride 
over  to  Nevada.  He  was  such  an  indefatigable  worker 
that  his  trip  was  a  surprise  to  people.  They  wondered 
at  Judah  —  of  all  men  —  taking  a  rest.  But  there  was 
a  great  purpose  in  this  seeming  holiday.  Several  times 
Judah  came  near  being  left.  He  would  leave  the  stage 
and  take  "  short  cuts,"  or  would  wander  from  the  road 
to  get  outlooks  from  higher  points.  It  was  clear  to 
an  observer  that  he  was  a  much  interested  man.  On 
his  return,  the  results  of  his  trip  became  apparent  in 
that  new  interests  had  been  awakened  in  his  soul. 
He  began  to  talk  of  a  railway  across  the  Sierras.  Then — 
with  his  essentially  practical  mind  — •  he  began  to  work 
to  find  the  route  for  it.  He  was  only  about  thirty 
years  old,  but  it  was  not  long  before  he  saw  clearly 
that  a  railway  could  be  built,  and  as  soon  as  that  was 
determined  he  threw  himself,  heart  and  soul,  into  the 
work  of  its  accomplishment.  Week  after  week,  month 
after  month,  year  after  year,  he  tramped  up  and  down 
canyons,  slid  down  or  wearily  climbed  up  steep  slopes, 
visited  every  possible  pass,  stood  on  every  available 
summit,  suffered  heat  and  cold,  rain,  sleet,  snow  and 
storm,  until  he  knew  the  Sierras,  by  heart. 

In  1859  —  September  20  —  a   railroad   convention 


224  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

was  held  in  San  Francisco,  of  which  John  Bidwell 
was  chairman,  with  delegates  from  California,  Oregon, 
Washington  and  Arizona,  for  the  purpose  of  taking 
such  steps  as  should  ensure  the  building  of  a  trans- 
continental railway.  Judah  was  present,  and  it  is 
universally  conceded  that  he  was  the  best  posted  and 
most  efficient  delegate.  Called  upon  for  information, 
he  freely  poured  forth  his  stored- up  knowledge.  An 
older  man  might  have  withheld  much,  for  fear  that 
others  might  forestall  him  and  reap  the  advantage  of 
his  labor.  But  Judah  never  seemed  to  have  had  any 
fear  of  anything  of  this  kind.  He  was  too  large-hearted 
to  put  a  national  scheme  upon  the  basis  of  a  proposition 
for  personal  profit.  He  was  unanimously  selected, 
therefore,  to  go  to  Washington  as  the  representative 
of  this  convention,  see  the  President  of  the  United 
States,  the  heads  of  the  various  departments,  the  leaders 
of  Congress  and  all  others  he  might  deem  desirable, 
to  the  end  that,  by  his  influence,  legislation  would  be 
set  in  motion  for  the  furtherance  of  the  transcontinental 
railway. 

With  fidelity,  knowledge  and  zeal  he  accomplished 
his  part  of  the  Washington  mission,  and  I  would  that 
every  reader  of  this  sketch  could  read  Judah' s  report 
of  his  labors.  He  failed  in  his  mission,  owing  to  the 
sectional  jealousies  between  North  and  South,  raging  at 
their  height,  but  his  report  is  a  model  of  clear,  dis- 
passionate statement  of  facts,  without  prejudice  or  dis- 
couragement, and  reaffirming  his  faith  in  the  feasibility 
and  practicability  of  the  project  and  its  ultimate  con- 
summation. And  then  —  lesson  for  the  grafters  of 


THEODORE  D.   JUDAH  225 

to-day  —  he  enclosed  a  bill  of  expenses  for  forty  dollars! 
His  actual  expenditures  for  stage  fare,  hotel  bills, 
carriage  hire,  etc.,  had  amounted  to  twenty-five  hundred 
dollars,  but  that  he  would  pay  himself.  The  bill  was 
for  necessary  printing,  which  was  all  he  expected  the 
convention  officials  to  pay. 

During  these  years  of  hard  and  unremunerative 
work  Judah  attracted  the  attention  and  engaged  the 
interest  of  the  Sacramento  men  who  afterwards  became 
the  "  Big  Four  "  of  the  Central  Pacific  Railroad.  If 
this  young  engineer  from  Bridgeport  was  so  sure  of  the 
feasibility  of  building  a  railroad,  why  were  they  not 
interested?  Leland  Stanford  was  a  dealer  in  groceries 
and  provisions,  Crocker  a  dry-goods  merchant,  and 
Huntington  and  Hopkins  sold  hardware.  None  of 
them  was  rich,  but  they  were  "  big  "  men,  though 
neither  they  nor  any  one  else  knew  it  at  the  time. 

The  building  of  a  great  railroad  is  a  tremendous 
project;  and  its  financing  a  great  problem.  When 
one  considers  the  way  millions  are  spent  —  loca- 
ting the  route,  surveying,  grading,  blasting,  shovel- 
ing, filling,  tunneling,  bridging,  cutting,  the  cost  of  the 
rails,  transporting  them  from  the  mills  to  the  road-bed, 
laying  them,  keeping  them  in  order,  the  rolling  stock, 
engines,  passenger  and  freight  cars,  stations,  depots, 
freight- houses,  switches,  side-tracks,  offices,  etc.,  — 
the  mind  of  the  ordinary  man  is  bewildered.  To 
others,  however,  these  matters  are  simple.  They  grasp 
the  problems,  see  the  needs,  the  compensations  for  the 
expenditures,  and  then,  if  they  can  but  convince  others 
that  they  see  clearly,  their  success  is  assured. 


226  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

Judah  had  seen  these  things  very  early,  and  he  soon 
made  the  "  Big  Four  "  see  them.  They  went  into 
politics.  Stanford  was  nominated  for  governor  of 
California 'on  the  Republican  ticket,  and  ten  days  later, 
June  28,  1861,  the  Central  Pacific  Railroad  Company 
of  California  was  organized,  with  Stanford  as  presi- 
dent, Huntington  vice-president,  Judah  engineer, 
Hopkins  treasurer,  and  James  Bailey,  a  Sacramento 
jeweler,  secretary.  The  capital  stock  was  named  as 
eight  million  five  hundred  thousand  dollars,  divided 
into  eighty-five  thousand  shares  of  one  hundred  dollars 
each.  The  "  Big  Four  "  and  Judah  each  subscribed 
for  one  hundred  and  fifty  shares,  and  paid  into  the 
treasury  ten  dollars  per  share  as  a  working  fund.  Judah 
was  at  once  sent  back  to  the  mountains  to  complete 
his  surveys  and  make  a  final  determination  of  routes. 

What  a  history- making  epoch!  What  an  honored 
position  and  high  responsibility  for  a  young  man! 
How  much  depended  upon  his  wisdom  and  judgment, 
his  care  and  thoroughness! 

Judah's  report  of  1861  (October  i)  should  be  re- 
garded as  one  of  the  Classics  of  California  Historic 
Literature.  It  ought  to  be  read  by  every  intelligent 
man  and  woman,  who  to-day  is  enjoying  the  results 
of  his  thorough  and  careful  work. 

Eleven  days  after  the  report  was  submitted,  Judah 
was  on  the  steamer,  going  to  Washington,  by  way  of 
Panama,  as  the  Railroad  Company's  representative 
to  Washington.  A  man  who  was  to  be  of  great  service 
to  the  cause  was  on  the  steamer  with  him,  and  Judah 
at  once  set  to  work,  with  the  same  zeal  that  had  won 


THEODORE  D.   JUDAH  227 

him  the  passes  of  the  Sierras,  to  win  his  adherence  and 
helpfulness.  This  was  Representative  A.  A.  Sargent, 
who  had  just  been  elected  and  was  on  his  way  to  take 
his  seat  in  the  House.  Before  he  reached  Washington, 
Judah  had  pumped  him  full  of  knowledge  in  regard 
to  routes,  costs  per  mile,  tunnels,  probable  amount  of 
tonnage  freight,  of  passengers  and  everything  else  a 
Congressman  ought  to  know,  so  that  when  the  bill 
finally  came  before  the  House,  he  was  able  thoroughly 
and  properly  to  present  it. 

In  New  York  he  met  United  States  Senator  James 
A.  McDougall,  at  whose  request  he  prepared  a  bill 
for  presentation  to  the  Senate. 

Then  he  himself  entered  into  the  campaign  of  edu- 
cation in  Washington.  In  this  he  was  materially  helped 
by  both  the  gentlemen  above  named,  and  when  the 
bill  came  up  for  action,  they  did  valiant  service  in  both 
the  House  and  the  Senate,  and  on  July  i,  1862,  they 
had  the  pleasure  of  knowing  that  it  had  become  a  law. 

As  soon  as  the  bill  was  passed,  Judah  prepared 
and  filed  in  the  office  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior  a 
map  and  designation  of  the  route  of  the  Central  Pacific 
Railroad  through  California;  whereupon,  as  provided 
by  the  act,  lands  to  the  distance  of  fifteen  miles  on  each 
side  of  the  route  were  withdrawn  from  private  enter- 
prise, preemption  or  sale.  He  then  proceeded  to  New 
York  and  began  making  provisional  contracts  for 
iron  and  equipments  for  the  first  fifty  miles  of  the  road. 
On  July  21,  having  successfully  accomplished  the 
objects  of  his  mission,  he  took  the  steamer  from  New 
York,  carrying  with  him  a  testimonial  from  a  large 


228  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

number  of  senators  and  representatives  in  Congress, 
thanking  him  for  his  assistance  in  aiding  the  passage 
of  the  bill,  assuring  him  that  his  examinations  and 
surveys  had  settled  the  question  of  the  practicability  of 
the  route  and  enabled  many  of  them  to  vote  confidently 
on  the  great  measure,  and  bearing  witness  to  the  value 
and  effectiveness  of  his  indefatigable  exertions  and 
intelligent  explanations.  He  had  indeed  succeeded 
admirably;  and,  so  far  as  seen,  his  success  was  due 
almost  entirely  to  himself  and  achieved  without  soiling 
his  hands  or  leaving  a  stain  upon  his  name. 

Immediately  upon  his  return  to  California,  he  began 
to  show  to  the  people  the  great  advantages  the  govern- 
ment had  conceded  and  the  wisdom  of  aiding  the  work 
in  every  possible  way.  At  the  same  time  he  bent  his 
marvellous  energies  to  the  proper  launching  of  the 
engineering  end  of  the  enterprise.  The  road  to  Folsom 
was  abandoned,  and  he  conclusively  showed  the  reason 
why,  so  that  even  those  who  protested  against  it  were 
left  without  argument.  He  also  called  especial  atten- 
tion to  every  detail  of  the  requirements  of  Congress, 
with  a  conscientious  anxiety  to  meet  every  promise, 
and  to  keep  all  pledges  made  to  the  State  of  Nevada. 
Not  only  this,  but  he  had  experts  at  work  examining 
the  minerals  and  rocks  along  the  route,  and  these 
he  exhibited  with  their  reports. 

In  October,  1863,  Judah  again  started  for  Washing- 
ton, in  order  to  be  present  at  the  sessions  of  Congress 
when  new  and  additional  railroad  legislation  was 
proposed.  On  the  way  he  was  stricken  with  fever, 
and  died  in  New  York  on  November  2,  1863.  Hittell 


THEODORE  D.   JUDAH  229 

says:  "  In  him  perished  a  genius  —  one  of  the  greatest 
in  his  important  line — -without  whom  the  way  over 
the  Sierra  would  not  have  been  found  perhaps  for  many 
years.  Like  many  other  men  of  genius,  his  reward 
consisted  chiefly  in  his  own  activity  and  the  conscious- 
ness and  satisfaction  of  doing  noble  work  thoroughly 
and  well.  He  made  for  others,  or  enabled  them  to 
make,  uncounted  wealth  and  to  occupy  places  of 
first-class  prominence  in  the  world;  but,  for  himself, 
he  made  in  the  way  of  money  comparatively  nothing; 
and  in  name  and  recollection,  as  new  and  inferior  men 
took  his  place  and  easily  continued  in  the  path  he  had 
found  and  so  clearly  pointed  out,  he  was  in  a  short 
time  substantially  forgotten.  While  the  railroad  in 
its  completed  state,  and  its  offspring  and  imitations, 
which  now  span  the  continent,  have  changed  the  face 
of  the  globe,  and  engrossed  to  a  greater  or  less  extent 
the  attention  of  courts  and  cabinets  in  almost  every 
quarter  of  the  earth,  it  is  only  in  old  records  and  reports 
that  the  name  of  Judah,  the  bright  spirit  that  called 
them  into  being,  is  to  be  found.  But  whether  remem- 
bered and  recognized  or  not  —  and  it  is  only  to  posterity 
and  not  to  him  that  it  can  make  any  difference  —  his 
admirable  work  is  his  monument,  and  it  must  and  will 
forever  remain  so." 

Can  anything  be  added  to  these  generous  words? 
The  fact  that  in  the  few  short  years  since  1863  the 
name  of  Judah  is  almost  forgotten,  and  his  work  is 
known  to  but  few,  is  proof  of  the  need  of  the  proper 
instruction  of  our  youth  in  the  lives  and  work  of  such 
heroes  of  peace  as  he.  To  be  a  civil  engineer,  and 


230  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

personally  conduct  the  surveys;  a  practical  builder 
of  railways,  so  that  he  could  intelligently  estimate 
the  cost  of  a  new  road;  a  superintendent  of  operation, 
so  that  he  could  equip  and  organize  a  force  to  run  the 
railroad;  a  business  man,  so  that  he  could  let  con- 
tracts; a  promoter,  so  that  he  could  —  as  Hittell  says, 
"  without  soiling  his  hands  or  leaving  a  stain  upon  his 
name  "  —  push  a  bill  for  such  a  gigantic  undertaking 
and  involving  such  vast  millions,  such  princely  gifts 
of  the  public  domain,  and  affecting  so  many  millions 
of  people,  through  the  halls  of  Congress;  a  financier,  so 
that  he  could  induce  capital  to  help  forward  the  plans; 
a  conciliator,  so  that  he  was  able,  more  than  any  other 
man  the  Central  Pacific  Railroad  Company  ever  had, 
to  calm  the  jealousies,  soothe  the  opposition  and  con- 
vert the  obstructionists  who  were  determined  to  put 
every  possible  obstacle  in  the  way  of  the  project,  — 
to  be  all  these  things  and  more,  was  to  be  abundantly 
blessed  of  God.  And  then,  to  use  all  these  divinely 
bestowed  powers  —  not  to  make  wealth  for  himself, 
not  to  snatch  at  the  paltry  honors  of  the  hour,  but  to 
devote  them  earnestly,  consistently,  sincerely  and 
constantly,  up  to  the  hour  of  his  death,  for  the  benefit 
of  his  fellows,  —  this  was  to  have  lived  the  life  of  a 
hero  and  to  have  fully  earned  the  hero's  crown. 


CHAPTER   XXIV 

THE     BUILDING    HEROES     OF    THE     CENTRAL     PACIFIC, 
HUNTINGTON,    STANFORD,    CROCKER  AND  HOPKINS 

WITHOUT  railroads,  what  would  California  be 
to-day,  as  far  as  material  prosperity  is  concerned  ? 
When  we  think  of  the  immense  activity  of  all  the  differ- 
ent railways  that  now  operate  in  California,  the  millions 
of  tons  of  freight,  both  for  the  State  and  "  in  transit," 
and  the  hundreds  of  thousands  of  passengers  carried 
each  year,  the  mind  is  incapable  of  conceiving  the 
chaos  that  would  arise  were  the  railroads  to  vanish  at 
a  word. 

And  yet  it  is  not  long  —  comparatively  speaking  — 
since  there  was  not  a  mile  of  railway  in  California. 
Only  forty  years  ago  (May  10,  1869)  the  last  spikes 
were  driven  that  wedded  the  Union  Pacific  and  Central 
Pacific  Railways  in  the  Salt  Lake  Desert  near  Prom- 
ontory, and  that  gave  to  the  Pacific  Coast  its  first 
transcontinental  railway. 

"  In  this  day  of  perfected  transportation,  with  the 
civilized  earth  conquered  and  bound  by  innumerable 
cords  of  steel  and  wire,  where  the  base  of  supplies 
is  not  so  very  far  from  the  place  of  consumption,  few 
can  realize  the  problem  before  those  intrepid  men 
who,  with  little  money  and  large  hostility  behind  them," 
started  to  build  from  the  Pacific  Coast  back  to  the 


232  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

East.  They  had  no  base  of  supplies  near  at  hand.  Every 
pound  of  railroad  steel  and  general  supplies  had  to 
come  nineteen  thousand  miles  by  water,  around  Cape 
Horn,  from  New  York,  and  when,  later,  the  Union 
Pacific  Railway  was  built  over  Nebraska  and  Wyo- 
ming into  Utah,  they  had  to  haul  "  their  strenuously 
obtained  subsistence  and  material  over  a  thousand 
miles  of  poorly  equipped  road.  They  fought  moun- 
tains of  snow  as  they  had  never  before  been  fought. 
They  forced  their  weak,  wheezy  little  engines  up  tre- 
mendous grades  with  green  wood  that  must  sometimes 
be  coaxed  with  sage-brush  gathered  by  the  firemen 
running  alongside  of  their  creeping  or  stalled  iron 
horses.  There  were  no  steel  rails.  Engineers  worked 
unhelped  by  the  example  of  perfected  railroad  building 
of  later  times.  No  tracks  or  charts  of  the  man-killing 
desert!  No  modern  helps,  no  ready,  ever-eager  capital 
seeking  their  enterprise!  Only  scepticism,  hatred  from 
their  enemies,  and  '  You  can't  do  it ! '  flung  at  them 
from  friend  and  foe." 

So  writes  Mrs.  Sarah  Pratt  Carr,  whose  father  was 
Charles  Crocker's  principal  reliance  in  the  field,  and 
who,  herself,  saw  the  daily  fight  against  Nature  and 
Time  and  Space.  Yet  what  she  here  describes  was  the 
difficulty  of  the  work  years  and  years  after  the  enter- 
prise had  begun,  and  had  received  the  official  endorse- 
ment and  financial  help  of  the  United  States  govern- 
ment. What  of  the  time  before  this  aid  was  secured? 
The  whole  story  is  one  of  bravery,  daring,  heroism, 
persistence  and  pluck  that,  in  spite  of  whatever 
fault  may  be  found  with  the  railroad  for  some  of 


THE  BUILDING  HEROES  233 

its  acts,  should  never  be  forgotten  by  the  youth  of  the 
State. 

And  here,  before  I  proceed  further,  let  me  make 
clear  that  while  I  am  personally  opposed  to  the  system 
of  land  and  bond  grants  that  made  the  building  of  the 
transcontinental  railway  possible  (as  will  be  revealed 
in  a  later  chapter),  I  do  not  condemn  those  who,  at 
this  early  date,  held  a  different  opinion.  Nor  does  this 
mental  attitude  render  me  indifferent  to  the  exhibition 
of  heroism  the  building  of  the  railway  manifested,  as 
the  remainder  of  this  chapter  will  prove. 

As  far  back  as  1836  John  Plumbe,  a  Welshman  by 
birth,  an  American  by  education  and  feeling,  a  civil 
engineer  by  profession,  began  to  agitate,  at  Dubuque, 
Iowa,  a  project  for  a  railroad  from  the  Great  Lakes 
across  the  Territory  of  Oregon  to  the  Pacific  Ocean. 
Other  far- seeing  men  —  some  of  our  wiser  statesmen  — 
early  recognized  the  possibilities,  and  one,  Lewis 
Gaylord  Clarke,  in  the  Knickerbocker  Magazine, 
prophesied  its  ultimate  fulfilment.  But  neither  the 
government,  nor  the  country,  at  that  early  day,  was 
prepared  to  undertake  so  gigantic  a  task,  and  even 
after  the  United  States  had  acquired  California,  in 
1846,  Asa  Whitney's  project  to  aid  the  construction 
of  a  Pacific  Railway  by  a  grant  of  alternate  sections 
of  land,  for  a  width  of  thirty  miles  on  each  side,  found 
few  earnest  advocates,  though  it  must  be  confessed  it 
attracted  almost  universal  attention. 

When  gold  was  discovered,  things  changed  somewhat. 
The  sea  voyage,  via  Cape  Horn,  was  too  long  and  too  dan- 
gerous. Even  when  the  trip  was  broken  at  the  Isthmus, 


234  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

and  a  railway  built  there  to  speed  the  traveler,  the  time 
consumed  was  enormous;  while  the  overland  stage 
was  equally  objectionable,  besides  being  tedious,  expen- 
sive, and  dangerous.  Hence  Congress,  in  March,  1853, 
made  a  first  appropriation  of  one  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  dollars  to  defray  the  expenses  of  searching 
for  a  practicable  route.  The  War  Department  under- 
took the  fitting  out  and  equipment  of  six  surveying 
parties,  and,  to  Californians,  there  are  few  papers  issued 
by  the  Government  that  are  so  hit  cresting  as  the  thir- 
teen large  volumes  of  Railroad  Survey  Reports,  pub- 
lished between  the  years  1855-1860,  when  Jefferson 
Davis  was  Secretary  of  War,  giving  the  results  of  these 
various  explorations. 

The  subject  was  agitated  constantly  by  the  Cali- 
fornia legislatures,  one  after  another,  that  of  1853 
making  quite  an  elaborate  report  and  urging  its  im- 
mediate consideration  upon  the  Federal  government. 
It  called  attention  to  the  fact  that  "  the  distance  from 
San  Francisco  to  Washington,  by  way  of  Cape  Horn, 
was  nineteen  thousand  miles,  or  more  than  the  entire 
circumference  of  the  globe  in  latitude  thirty-eight  de- 
grees-, the  parallel  of  San  Francisco,  and  that  the 
distance  by  way  of  Panama  or  Nicaragua  was  as 
long  as  a  direct  line  from  Washington  to  Pekin.  It 
urged  the  necessity  of  the  road,  not  only  in  a 
business  and  social,  but  also  from  a  military  point  of 
view." 

As  the  State  most  interested,  California  had  the  right 
to  urge  her  claims.  Later  on  she  showed  that  her 
gold  had  contributed  a  wonderful  stimulus  to  railroad 


THE  BUILDING  HEROES  235 

building  in  all  the  Eastern  States,  where  the  number  of 
miles  in  operation  increased  from  eight  thousand  five 
hundred  and  eighty- eight,  in  the  year  1850,  to  thirty 
thousand  five  hundred  and  ninety-eight  in  1860.  She 
showed  how  she  was  discriminated  against  by  the  lack 
of  a  railroad,  hi  the  fact  that  the  money  it  would  cost 
a  family  to  reach  her  borders  would  settle  them  on  a 
good  farm  in  what  was  then  called  "  the  West."  The 
transmission  of  a  single  letter  by  mail  for  a  long  time 
cost  forty  cents.  But  not  until  1861  was  anything 
practical  in  the  way  of  actual  preparation  for  real 
building  accomplished,  and  that  was  done  in  Cali- 
fornia, as  related  in  the  preceding  chapter.  Stanford, 
Huntington,  Crocker,  Hopkins,  Judah  and  a  few  others 
organized  the  Central  Pacific  Railroad  Company,  and 
in  the  most  practical  way  proceeded  to  get  the  railway 
there  had  been  so  much  talk  about. 

Not  one  of  these  men  had  much  money,  —  all  told 
they  were  not  worth  half  a  million  dollars, —  and 
none  of  them  was  supposed  to  have  much  influence. 
Stanford,  however,  had  just  come  into  the  lime- 
light, and  revealed  unsuspected  power,  by  having 
gained  the  Republican  nomination  for  governor.  This 
latter  fact  helped  considerably,  but  even  that  did  not 
stop  the  torrent  of  abuse  and  ridicule  that  was  poured 
out  upon  them  for  their  audacity,  their  daring,  their 
impudence,  etc.  But  Judah's  calm  and  serene  con- 
fidence in  his  plans  staggered  the  objectors,  and  Stan- 
ford's forceful  conduct  of  public  affairs  after  his  elec- 
tion, in  1 86 1,  soon  began  to  demonstrate  that  these 
men  knew  what  they  were  doing.  They  had  power, 


236  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

and  regardless  of  all  opposition  they  went  forward  to  the 
consummation  of  their  plans. 

Unfortunately  —  in  one  sense  —  these  men  were  all 
Sacramentans,  and  San  Francisco  felt  slighted.  Mrs. 
Carr,  in  her  Iron  Way,  makes  Governor  Stanford 
give  expression  to  the  following:  "  Poor  San  Fran- 
cisco! She  sits  on  her  shifting  hills,  snubbing  Cali- 
fornia, tyrannizing  Nevada,  scorning  the  world.  She 
thinks  she's  Earth's  only  golden  daughter,  that  she 
has  no  need  of  the  iron  thread  we  '  shopkeepers  '  are 
stringing  across  the  Sierras.  But  our  thread  of  iron 
shall  become  her  chain  of  steel.  The  '  shopkeepers ' 
shall  be  the  arbiters  of  her  fate.  Poor,  short-sighted 
city!  She  shall  see  her  trade  divided,  her  rivals  pros- 
perous. Where  she  should  have  been  queen,  she  shall 
be  vassal.  Her  children  might  be  millions,  —  they  will 
be  only  thousands.  To-day  she  fights  us,  and  throws 
away  the  chance  of  becoming  America's  greatest  city." 

There  is  no  denying  that  for  a  while  the  governor's 
remarks  about  San  Francisco's  attitude  were  justified, 
and  it  was  long  before  the  foolish  opposition  ceased. 
In  time,  however,  wiser  counsels  prevailed,  and  San 
Francisco  did  her  share  nobly  to  help  on  the  great 
work,  which  was  to  make  her  the  gateway  to  the 
Orient.  And  yet  perhaps  the  very  fact  that  the  bankers 
and  capitalists  of  San  Francisco  were  sceptical  as  to 
the  ability  of  the  "  Big  Four  "  to  carry  on  their  project 
and  refused  them  financial  help,  led  them  to  seek  the 
specific  aid  of  the  government  by  subsidies  of  bonds. 
The  land  grants  were  all  right  as  far  as  they  went,  but 
no  one  wanted  to  buy  land  that  as  yet  was  unknown  and 


THE  BUILDING  HEROES  237 

unreached,  and  immediate  help  was  required.  Here 
the  genius  of  Huntington  came  into  play.  It  was  no 
doubt  owing  to  his  financial  ability  that  bonds  were 
suggested.  The  government  was  prevailed  upon  to 
give,  for  every  mile  of  road  completed,  sixteen  one 
thousand  dollar  bonds,  bearing  six  per  cent,  interest, 
and  falling  due  in  thirty  years. 

Then  Huntington  in  the  East,  and  Stanford  in  Cali- 
fornia, bent  their  energies  to  raising  the  money  neces- 
sary to  meet  the  weekly  pay-roll  of  graders,  scrapers, 
drivers,  engineers,  track-layers,  bridge-builders,  tun- 
nellers,  carpenters,  blacksmiths,  and  the  hundreds  who 
were  doing  the  actual  work  of  reaching  and  scaling  the 
Sierras.  Acts  were  passed  in  the  State  legislature  em- 
powering the  various  counties  —  Placer,  San  Francisco, 
Sacramento,  San  Joaquin  —  to  issue  bonds,  when  voted 
upon  by  the  citizens,  for  the  purpose  of  aiding  the  road. 
Then  the  State  was  to  help  with  a  contribution  of  half 
a  million  dollars.  But  enemies  were  at  work.  An  at- 
tempt was  made  to  repeal  this  latter  act,  and  San 
Francisco  placed  obstacles  in  the  way  of  the  payment 
of  its  quota,  which  the  courts  did  not  remove  until  1856. 

Never  was  there  a  great  enterprise  that  had  more 
opposition  than  did  the  Central  Pacific  Railroad. 
There  is,  perhaps,  a  doubt  as  to  whether  even  the 
power  of  the  Big  Four  could  have  coped  with  the  ob- 
stacles, had  it  not  been  for  Judah's  wondrous  capacity 
and  serene  confidence.  He  rendered  it  possible  for 
Huntington  to  go  to  Congress  with  his  later  requests 
and  secure  what  was  absolutely  essential  for  the  life 
of  the  undertaking.  And  while,  hi  the  struggles  that 


238  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

came  after  Judah's  death,  it  must  freely  be  confessed, 
the  Big  Four  all  developed  into  wonderful  men,  it  is  a 
question  whether  they  would  have  had  the  opportunity 
so  to  develop  had  it  not  been  that  Judah's  work  car- 
ried them  forward  in  the  first  arduous  hours  of  the  fight. 

Huntington  found  he  could  not  raise  the  money  fast 
enough  for  the  needs  of  operation,  —  as  the  govern- 
ment had  put  a  time  limit  upon  the  completion  of  the 
road.  So  another  financial  move  was  determined  upon. 
A  bill  was  presented  in  Congress,  which  finally  passed, 
giving  to  the  railroad  the  power  and  right  to  issue 
first  mortgage  bonds  to  the  extent  of  its  mileage,  of  the 
same  amount  and  character  as  those  that  the  govern- 
ment had  issued  or  was  to  issue.  This  act  doubled  the 
bonding  power  of  the  road,  gave  the  railway  company's 
bonds  the  first  claims,  and  thus  made  them  more  easily 
negotiable,  and,  at  the  same  time,  while  in  a  measure 
lowering  materially  the  security  of  the  government 
bonds,  did  not  prevent  their  being  sold  at  about  the 
same  rate  as  before. 

Immediately  a  change  took  place  in  the  finances  of 
the  company.  Money  now  became  as  plentiful  as 
hitherto  it  had  been  scarce,  and  the  work  was  pushed 
with  renewed  vigor.  The  same  act  also  increased  the 
land  grant  from  fifteen  miles  to  twenty-five  miles, 
alternate  sections,  on  each  side  of  the  railway,  and  ex- 
tended the  time  for  the  building  of  the  first  fifty  miles 
of  road,  and  required  only  twenty-five  miles  to  be 
built  each  year  thereafter,  provided,  however,  that  the 
whole  distance  to  the  State  boundary  be  finished  in 
another  four  years. 


THE  BUILDING  HEROES  239 

The  whole  of  the  construction  work  in  the  field  was 
relegated  by  Stanford,  Huntington  and  Hopkins  to 
Crocker.  Indeed,  the  directors  of  the  railway  (of 
which  Crocker  was  one)  let  the  contract  for  the  building 
of  the  railway  to  Charles  Crocker  and  Company  (of 
which  firm  they  were  the  "  Company  "). 

From  the  counter  and  office  of  a  small  dry-goods  store 
to  the  superintendency  of  a  great  railway  building  con- 
tract was  a  change  that  few  men  could  safely  undergo, 
but  Charles  Crocker  made  it  as  if  by  magic.  He  disap- 
peared from  the  one  position  to  reappear  fully  equipped 
for  the  other.  He  seemed  to  have  an  eye  instantly  to 
detect  or  discover  the  superintendent  of  construction, 
foremen  and  bosses  needed.  Between  himself  and  Pratt, 
the  man  he  placed  in  charge  of  the  work  in  the 
field,  there  was  a  perfect  understanding.  Pratt  was  an 
Eastern  man,  who,  with  his  wife  and  baby  daughter, 
came  west  in  time  to  enter  into  this  work.  With  his 
whole  heart  and  soul  he  bent  his  energies  to  it,  devoting 
himself  to  Crocker  and  his  interests  with  a  fidelity  that 
never  swerved,  and  making  the  success  of  the  Central 
Pacific  his  passion  and  his  delight.  His  daughter,  in 
her  Iron  Way,  has  done  good  service  in  her  day  and 
generation  in  picturing  some  of  the  scenes  she  lived 
among  as  a  little  girl.  For  her  father,  while  retaining 
a  home  in  California,  was  desirous  of  having  his  family 
with  him,  so  he  established  them  in  a  temporary,  but 
comfortable  home,  which,  as  the  work  of  building  the 
railway  progressed,  was  moved  on  along  the  right  of 
way. 

At  one  time  the  "  enemy  "  sent  its  emissaries  into  the 


24o  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

working  camps  and  persuaded  the  laborers  that  the 
"  iron  "  —  the  rails  —  was  being  delayed,  and  that,  if 
they  pushed  the  work  on,  they  would  be  laid  off  until 
it  arrived.  They  were  thus  craftily  urged  to  idle,  to 
shirk,  to  "  old  soldier,"  and  delay  the  progress.  Men 
were  bribed  to  wreck  trains  of  supplies,  for  which  the 
workers  were  waiting,  and  every  conceivable  obstacle 
that  devilish  cunning  and  craft  could  devise  and  fiendish 
ingenuity  and  courage  execute,  was  set  in  motion  to 
harass,  delay  and  dishearten  those  who  had  the  work 
in  hand.  The  modern-day  strike  was  not  then  in- 
vented, but  men  were  bribed  to  desert  by  wholesale. 
Rumors  were  diligently  spread  abroad,  at  times,  of 
new  and  rich  strikes  in  mining  camps  at  far-away  dis- 
tances, and  laborers  were  thus  inveigled  to  desert  their 
work.  Before  they  could  find  out  they  had  been 
swindled,  a  week  or  two,  or  a  month  had  gone  by. 
Think  of  the  heart-break  of  the  railroad  builders  who 
were  tied  to  time  by  their  contract  with  the  govern- 
ment, the  State  and  the  various  counties. 

It  was  these  tactics,  and  not  because  they  wished  it, 
that  led  the  Central  Pacific  officials  to  the  use  of  Chinese 
labor.  As  early  as  1862,  hi  Governor  Stanford's  in- 
augural, he  had  openly  proclaimed  against  further 
Chinese  immigration.  Their  presence  in  the  mines  had 
already  demonstrated  their  undesirability,  —  accord- 
ing to  his  opinion,  —  and  he  urged  the  repression  of  the 
influx  of  the  Asiatic  into  California.  Yet,  when  white 
labor  was  found  to  be  so  unreliable,  and  the  work  was 
pressing,  Stanford  was  soon  to  learn  that  where  the  devil 
drives  there  is  little  choice.  Crocker  played  a  great 


THE  BUILDING  HEROES  241 

trick  upon  him  in  which  he  was  compelled  to  acquiesce. 
Five  hundred  Chinamen  were  secretly  marched  from 
an  incoming  ship,  loaded  on  a  train  and  sent  to  the 
front  before  either  they  —  the  Chinamen  —  or  any  one 
else  knew  their  destination,  and  when  once  they  were 
set  to  work  and  their  ability  and  reliability  had  been 
proved,  there  was  no  more  talk  against  Chinamen  on 
the  part  of  railroad  men  who  knew. 

Day  after  day,  week  after  week,  month  after  month, 
Crocker  and  Pratt  went  up  and  down  the  line  like  rest- 
less Lucifers,  fired  with  that  everlasting  urge  and  push 
that  drove  the  demons  of  laziness  and  inertia  out  of 
thousands  of  .men.  What  a  tribute  to  the  power  of  soul 
over  body  that  two  men  could  so  enliven,  encourage, 
compel  thousands  that  they  would  work  to  the  utmost 
of  their  physical  power,  in  order  to  accomplish  the  will 
of  their  leaders. 

Slowly  but  surely,  the  road  crept  up  the  western  slope 
of  the  Sierras.  Cape  Horn  was  reached  and  finally  the 
summit.  Then  the  down  grade  was  begun  —  past 
Donner  Lake,  Truckee  to  Reno  —  and  finally  Ne- 
vada was  happy  in  having  rail  connection  with  the 
Pacific  Coast.  Then  the  race  across  Nevada  began. 

Two  companies  were  to  build  the  railroad  from  the 
Missouri  to  the  Pacific,  one  working  eastward,  —  the 
Central  Pacific,  —  the  other  working  westward,  — 
the  Union  Pacific.  Each  was  to  be  paid  in  bonds 
according  to  the  miles  of  road  built,  and  while  the 
Union  Pacific  had  the  advantage  of  comparatively 
level  country  (fully  five  hundred  miles)  over  a  large 
part  of  its  route  to  start  with,  the  Central  Pacific  had 


242  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

to  surmount  the  Sierras  at  the  outset.  The  former 
road  began  at  Omaha,  Nebraska.  When  the  North- 
western Railway  reached  Omaha,  in  December,  1866, 
the  Union  Pacific  was  in  direct  railroad  connection 
with  its  base  of  supplies,  while  the  Central  Pacific  had 
to  have  its  supplies  transported  nineteen  thousand 
miles  around  Cape  Horn. 

In  spite  of  these  terrific  obstacles,  work  was  pushed 
with  tremendous  energy.  By  midsummer  of  1867  the 
Central  Pacific  was  completed  to  the  summit  of  the 
Sierras;  fifteen  tunnels,  embracing  a  length  of  six 
thousand  two  hundred  and  sixty-two  feet,  were  being 
rapidly  bored  through  the  almost  adamantine  granite; 
while  ten  thousand  men  and  thirteen  hundred  teams 
were  working  on  the  down  grade  of  the  eastern 
slope.  Chinamen  were  now  used  by  the  thousands, 
and  Charles  Crocker  was  their  general.  They  were 
organized  into  companies,  with  their  officers,  and 
drilled  to  obey  the  word  of  command  exactly  as  do 
troops. 

As  the  road  progressed,  it  began  to  do  business  on 
the  completed  portion.  This  brought  in  large  sums 
of  money  from  freight  and  passenger  receipts  to  aid 
the  building  fund,  hence  no  reasonable  expense  was  now 
spared  to  push  the  railway  ahead  as  fast  as  men  and 
money  could  accomplish  it.  The  rivalry  between  the 
Union  and  Central  became  keener  and  keener  as  the 
gap  grew  smaller,  and  when,  at  the  end  of  1867,  the 
Central  Pacific  reached  Reno,  there  was  great  rejoicing 
hi  its  councils,  for  the  race  would  now  be  far  more  to 
its  advantage  than  to  its  rival.  The  Union  was  far 


JAMES    LICK. 


Page  S62 


THE  BUILDING  HEROES  243 

ahead,  but  it  had  four  or  five  hundred  miles  of  the 
Rockies  to  overcome,  while  the  Central  had  only  the 
comparatively  smooth  ground  of  the  Nevada  plateau 
to  cross. 

What  an  exciting  chapter  could  be  written  on  that 
race  across  Nevada,  —  how  the  enemies  of  the  Central 
Pacific  did  not  hesitate  to  resort  to  deception  and  fraud 
and  even  worse  to  hinder  its  progress  !  But  the  impetus 
gained  was  now  too  great  to  be  stopped. 

Over  the  desert  the  army  of  workers  slowly  pushed 
their  way.  The  route  was  bustling  with  life.  Thousands 
of  employes  built  up  numerous  small  towns  as  they 
advanced,  some  of  which  have  totally  disappeared, 
while  others  became  the  nuclei  of  permanent  places, 
such  as  Wadsworth,  Winnemucca,  Palisade,  Carlin. 
Saw  mills  were  started  in  the  Sierras  to  supply  ties  and 
lumber  for  buildings.  Scores  of  axes  echoed  in  the 
mountain  forests,  as  they  bit  into  the  great  trees. 
Where  there  were  streams  they  were  used  to  float  the 
logs  to  the  nearest  available  points.  The  excitement 
grew  as  the  two  gangs  neared  each  other.  One  day  the 
Central  Pacific  actually  laid  seven  miles  of  track. 
Its  directors  were  desperately  anxious  to  reach  Ogden 
at  least,  and  the  Union  Pacific  directors  equally  anxious 
to  reach  Monument  Point,  —  west  of  the  Salt  Lake  — 
though  at  one  time  they  had  declared  it  their  intention 
to  reach  the  California  State  line.  But  ultimately,  on 
May  10,  1869,  a  clear,  cloudless,  glorious  Nevada  day, 
the  "laurel ".tie  was  placed,  amid  ringing  cheers,  the 
connecting  rails  were  laid,  the  golden  spike  set,  and 
the  trans-American  telegraph  wire  was  adjusted. 


244  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

The  prayer  of  thanksgiving  had  been  offered.  Then, 
amid  breathless  silence,  Governor  Stanford,  with  a 
special  silver  hammer,  gave  the  gentle  ticks  that  sent 
the  news  flashing  across  the  continent  —  the  Atlantic- 
Pacific  railway  is  completed;  one  may  now  ride  in 
comfort  from  one  side  to  the  other  of  our  great  country. 
It  was  a  heroic  achievement,  a  grand  and  glorious 
consummation  of  a  sublime  idea,  and  in  its  enjoyment 
the  true  Californian  will  never  forget  the  silent  tribute 
of  his  thanks  and  admiration  to  Judah  and  the  Big 
Four  whose  pluck  and  heroism  accomplished  it. 


CHAPTER   XXV 

THE     BRILLIANT    HERO     OF     INTELLECT, 
STEPHEN  J.    FIELD 

THERE  are  heroes  and  heroes.  All  are  not  of 
the  same  kind,  or  in  the  same  class.  One  is  a 
hero  of  physical  courage,  another  of  religious  zeal, 
another  of  bravery  in  facing  political  corruption,  an- 
other in  preventing  wrong  to  the  helpless.  Yet  the 
study  of  the  life  of  each  one  is  of  use  to  us.  We  can- 
not look  upon  the  life  of  any  true  hero  without  being 
profited. 

In  the  case  of  Stephen  J.  Field  we  have  the  heroism 
of  a  man  who  devoted  his  gigantic  intellect,  with  single- 
ness of  purpose,  to  the  arduous  task  of  fitting  the  laws 
of  the  United  States  to  an  alien  civilization  incorpo- 
rated into  our  own,  and  where  social  and  business  con- 
ditions were  entirely  different  from  those  found  in  any 
other  part  of  the  country. 

The  Field  family  is  a  noted  one,  Stephen  Johnson 
Field's  three  brothers  all  having  attained  honor  and 
fame,  —  David  Dudley,  equally  great  with  his  younger 
brother  as  a  jurist;  Cyrus  West,  as  the  sagacious,  ener- 
getic and  triumphant  conqueror  of  space  and  ocean 
by  his  Atlantic  cable;  Henry  Martyn,  as  a  traveler, 
preacher  and  editor. 

Stephen   reached   California    December    28,    1849, 


246  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

"  with  hardly  any  funds,  and  with  no  resources  except 
untiring  energy  and  capacity  for  work,  great  intellec- 
tual ability,  natural  and  cultivated,  the  well- laid  foun- 
dation of  legal  learning,  and  the  high  hopes  of  opening 
manhood."  He  went  to  Marysville,  was  its  first  al- 
caide, and  one  Monday  hi  January,  1851,  took  his  seat 
in  the  assembly  of  the  State  legislature  as  the  member 
from  his  county.  In  this  assembly  he  demonstrated 
his  high  heroic  patriotism  by  devoting  the  whole  of  his 
energies  to  the  formulation  of  most  important  laws,  the 
chief  of  which  were  in  connection  with  the  mining  in- 
terests. Here  was  no  wire-pulling  pettifogger  seeking 
his  own  advancement,  no  "  log-roller,"  looking  for 
financial  gain  in  his  legislative  action,  but  a  hard- 
working, conscientious  patriot,  giving  freely  of  his 
superlative  mental  powers  that  the  chaotic  condition 
of  the  mining  industry  might  be  changed  to  an  orderly 
and  legal  method. 

It  is  hard  for  us,  in  this  day  of  calm,  settled,  peaceful, 
community  life,  to  realize  the  wild  and  confused  con- 
dition of  affairs  during  the  first  years  after  the  discovery 
of  gold.  In  the  great  rush  there  were  a  few7  men  of  high 
character,  education  and  culture  who  were  capable 
of  being  leaders.  "  A  larger  number  wTere  of  less  edu- 
cation and  culture,"  says  Judge  Pomeroy,  "  but  still 
were  full  of  energy,  and,  coming  from  the  United  States, 
were  inclined  to  be  law-abiding,  possessing  at  least 
some  of  the  American  feeling  of  respect  for  the  law  and 
love  of  justice.  A  third,  and  it  must  be  confessed,  a 
large  class,  consisted  of  the  worst  characters  of  the 
older  communities,  —  rogues,  knaves,  gamblers,  and 


STEPHEN  J.  FIELD  247 

professional   criminals,   acknowledging   no   laws,   and 
defying  all. 

"The  law  of  the  country  was  itself  chaotic.  The 
civil  law,  as  formulated  in  Spanish  codes,  and  modified 
by  Mexican  legislation,  was  in  operation  prior  to  the 
cession  of  California  to  the  United  States.  Large 
tracts  of  land  were  held  as  grants  under  the  Mexican 
law,  and  —  when  confirmed  —  gave  rights  of  absolute 
possession  to  their  owners. 

"The  mixed  mass  of  immigrants  had  brought  with 
them  their  own  ideas  of  law,  —  ideas  as  diverse  as 
were  their  facial  characteristics,  and  naturally  they 
wished  to  base  their  conduct  upon  the  laws  with  which 
they  had  hitherto  been  familiar.  The  first  legislature  of 
the  State  of  California  had  adopted  as  the  fundamental 
law  of  the  State  the  Common  Law  of  England.  But 
this  did  not  meet  the  peculiar  conditions  existent 
here.  It  left  the  mining  interests  in  as  confused 
a  condition  as  if  there  were  no  law.  And  these  in- 
terests, it  must  be  remembered,  in  those  early  days 
overshadowed  all  others  in  their  magnitude  and  im- 
portance. 

"  The  mineral  lands,  as  a  whole,  belonged  to  the 
United  States,  as  a  part  of  the  public  domain;  but  dif- 
ferent opinions  prevailed  with  respect  to  the  ownership 
of  the  minerals  themselves  while  still  remaining  in  the 
soil.  Some  persons  maintained  that  they  belonged  to 
the  United  States,  others  that  they  were  owned  by  the 
State;  but  the  conviction  was  universal  that  neither 
the  national  nor  the  State  government  should  assert 
any  right  of  ownership,  and  that  its  assertion  would 


248  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

greatly  impair  the  development  of  the  mineral  wealth 
of  the  country." 

Some  miners  had  taken  advantage  of  the  "  State 
ownership "  doctrine,  and  they  asserted  their  right 
to  carry  on  their  mining,  not  only  in  the  public  lands, 
but  also  in  all  land.  They  even  asserted  this  right 
with  respect  to  private  lands  which  were  actually 
occupied  by  their  owners,  and  were  used  by  them  for 
other  purposes  than  mining,  —  for  agriculture,  for 
grazing,  for  residence.  "  This  claim  was  not  an  empty 
theory;  it  was  carried  into  actual  operation.  The 
miners  entered  upon  private  lands  at  will,  used  and 
occupied  for  farms,  cattle-ranches,  vineyards,  etc.,  in 
search  for  silver  and  gold,  heaving  up  the  soil  and  doing 
great  damage." 

In  this  condition  of  the  country,  the  better  class  of 
miners  had  taken  some  important  steps.  They  held 
meetings  and  passed  rules  and  regulations  which,  to 
their  own  practical  sense  of  right  and  justice,  were 
feasible,  —  rules  about  priority  of  claims,  extent  of 
ground  each  person  might  appropriate,  how  he  must 
work  to  keep  it,  and  the  like.  These  rules,  once  adopted, 
were  enforced  with  that  primitive  vigor  and  strictness 
with  which  Bret  Harte  has  made  us  familiar.  Short  was 
the  shrift  and  severe  the  penalty  on  all  violators,  yet 
seldom  could  it  be  charged  that,  in  the  main,  injustice 
was  done.  Naturally  the  rules  slightly  differed  in  the 
different  camps,  yet  there  was  a  general  similarity 
in  them  all. 

When  elected  to  the  State  legislature,  Mr.  Field 
set  himself  to  reduce  this  system  to  law.  His  keen  and 


STEPHEN  J.  FIELD  249 

logical  mind,  and  his  personal  observations  among  the 
miners  had  shown  him  the  wise,  proper  and  judicial 
thing  to  do.  Casting  aside  all  precedents,  going  right 
to  the  heart  of  the  difficulty  in  a  manly  and  fearless 
manner,  based  upon  common  sense  and  justice,  he  — 
in  effect  —  introduced  a  bill  which,  when  passed,  made 
into  laws  all  the  rules  and  regulations  that  the  miners 
had  voluntarily  imposed  upon  themselves. 

When  he  was  elected  to  the  judicial  bench,  many 
cases  came  before  him  for  settlement  where  the  old 
codes  were  relied  upon,  and  when  rude,  rough,  danger- 
ous and  desperate  men,  by  force,  even  to  the  point  of 
murder,  were  determined  to  gain  their  ends,  right  or 
wrong.  As  Professor  Pomeroy  has  well  said:  "  On  the 
whole,  the  California  judges  were  confronted  by  a  task 
enormous  in  its  difficulty  and  importance;  wholly 
unprecedented  in  the  legal  and  judicial  history  of  the 
country;  with  little  aid  from  the  doctrines  of  juris- 
prudence prevailing  in  other  States;  and  requiring  to 
be  grappled  with,  adjusted,  and  settled  without  delay, 
upon  a  just  and  solid  basis.  Their  difficulties  were 
enhanced  by  the  character  and  dispositions  of  a  large 
portion  of  the  population.  As  was  inevitable,  the  ab- 
sence of  legal  and  social  restraints  had  induced  great 
numbers  of  persons  to  engage  in  the  most  extensive 
schemes  of  fraudulent  acquisition,  of  grasping  and 
accumulating  property  through  an  open  disregard  of 
others'  rights,  of  asserting  the  most  unscrupulous  and 
unfounded  claims,  of  overriding  law,  order,  equity  and 
justice  in  every  possible  manner,  having  the  semblance 
of  legal  sanction.  These  persons  were  often  influential, 


250  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

and  could  control  the  newspapers  and  other  organs 
of  temporary  public  opinion.  When  their  projects 
were  thwarted  by  judicial  decisions,  they  attempted 
to  coerce  the  court  by  public  attacks  of  the  most  bitter 
nature  upon  individual  judges,  attacks  such  as  have 
never  been  known,  and  would  never  for  a  moment  be 
tolerated  in  the  Eastern  States,  but  which  the  court  was 
powerless  either  to  prevent  or  punish.  The  most  able 
and  upright  members  of  the  court  were  made  the 
objects  of  virulent  abuse,  the  extent  and  fierceness  of 
which  we  can  hardly  realize  at  the  present  day.  It  is 
true  that,  in  course  of  time,  the  truth  gradually  asserted 
its  power,  the  public  mind  appreciated  the  justice  and 
integrity  of  the  decisions,  perceived  their  wisdom,  and 
acknowledged  their  beneficial  results." 

Taking  the  most  independent  and  fearless  course, 
Judge  Field  was  perhaps  the  most  often  the  victim 
of  these  unprincipled  attacks.  More  than  once  was  he 
threatened,  and  his  life  placed  in  actual  jeopardy, 
yet  it  can  truthfully  be  said,  so  far  as  a  careful  study 
of  many  of  his  decisions  entitles  me  to  speak  with 
authority,  that  never  once  was  he  swerved  from  his 
sense  of  justice  by  threats  or  danger  of  any  kind.  When 
subtle  bribes  (and  in  many  cases  gold  was  almost 
openly  used)  were  placed  before  him,  he  adhered  to 
his  duty.  This  element  of  fearlessness  will  be  referred 
to  later  in  reference  to  another  phase  of  his  work. 

During  his  Assembly  career,  we  owe  to  him  another 
important  and  beneficent  law.  In  the  statutes  of 
almost  every  State  there  have  been  trivial  exemptions  of 
personal  property  of  debtors  from  execution,  seizure 


STEPHEN  J.  FIELD  251 

and  sale.  He  felt  that,  in  the  new  State,  a  scheme  of 
exemption  should  be  provided  that  was  more  generous, 
believing  that  even  the  strictest  justice  and  the  claims  of 
creditors  would  be  better  subserved  thereby.  Not  only 
should  a  debtor  have  his  bedding,  clothing  and  house- 
hold effects  preserved  to  him,  but  the  tools  and  imple- 
ments with  which  he  worked.  With  these  he  might  be 
able  to  secure  employment  and  pay  his  debts;  without 
them  he  was  plunged  into  a  morass  of  despair,  which 
not  only  effectually  prevented  the  payment  of  his  debts, 
but  possibly  rendered  him  a  burden  to  the  community. 
Accordingly,  he  introduced  a  measure,  which  became 
law,  exempting  the  implements,  wagons,  and  teams 
of  a  farmer,  the  tools  of  a  mechanic,  the  instruments 
of  a  surveyor,  surgeon  and  dentist,  the  professional 
library  of  a  lawyer  and  a  physician,  the  articles  used 
by  the  miner,  the  laborer,  etc. 

As  a  judge,  the  same  qualities  of  statesmanship  soon 
became  apparent.  New  conditions  existed  in  Cali- 
fornia, and  old  legal  methods  could  not  be  made  to 
apply.  Judge  Field  at  once  showed  that  he  had  the 
moral  courage,  the  daring,  to  do  what  is  most  unusual 
and  rare  in  a  lawyer  or  a  judge.  He  dared  to  strike 
out  entirely  new  paths,  enunciate  fundamental  and 
living  principles  as  the  basis  of  his  decisions  and  relegate 
to  the  lumber  heap  all  the  accumulated  trash  of  the 
centuries,  which,  under  the  awful  name  of  "  prece- 
dent," ties  the  hands,  blinds  the  eyes,  befogs  the  judg- 
ments of  nearly  all  the  men  who  sit  upon  our  legal 
benches.  His  gigantic  intellect,  his  ready  grasp  of 
principles,  his  persistent  determination  to  get  at  all 


252  HEROES  OF^  CALIFORNIA 

the  facts  in  the  case,  his  indomitable  energy  and  capacity 
for  hard  work  enabled  him,  when  backed  up  by  his 
upright  soul  and  fearless  courage,  to  do  the  thing  that 
to  a  lesser  man  would  have  been  impossible. 

For  it  cannot  be  denied  that  some  of  the  men  who 
were  elevated  to  judicial  positions  in  the  early  days 
of  the  State  were  totally  unfit  —  from  every  moral 
standpoint  —  to  occupy  their  high  and  lofty  places. 
Some  of  them  were  criminals  and  desperadoes,  and 
had  it  not  been  for  their  high  intellectual  attainments 
they  could  not  have  been  imposed  upon  any  com- 
munity for  a  single  hour.  Among  such  men  Justice 
Field  stood  out  preeminently  in  the  isolation  of  his 
nobleness  of  character  and  purity  of  life. 

These  qualities  of  soul  soon  began  to  reveal  them- 
selves in  some  of  the  important  decisions  which  he 
rendered.  In  litigation  that  affected  but  a  few  individ- 
uals it  is  comparatively  easy  to  ignore  the  ill  will  of  the 
defeated  parties  to  the  suit,  but  where  a  whole  com- 
munity, a  county,  a  State  is  involved,  the  temptation 
to  temporize  is  much  enhanced.  It  is  well  known  that 
in  California  the  Chinamen  had  few  friends,  especially 
in  the  days  prior  to,  and  at  the  time  of  the  passing  of 
the  Exclusion  Acts.  Judge  Pomeroy  declares  that  this 
State  prejudice  against  the  Mongolian  has  led  to  the 
enactment  of  both  State  and  municipal  legislation  that 
violates  the  constitution  and  contravenes  the  treaty 
made  between  the  United  States  and  China. 

On  several  occasions  Judge  Field  took  occasion 
to  show  that  the  prejudiced  and  hostile  acts  of  Cal- 
ifornia against  the  Chinese  were  neither  good  law 


STEPHEN  J.  FIELD  253 

nor  good  morals,  and  regardless  of  the  stir  his  de- 
cisions provoked,  calmly  went  on  the  even  tenor  of 
his  way. 

In  1874  a  case  came  before  him  in  which  it  was  pro- 
posed to  return  to  China  a  certain  woman  who  had 
been  denied  entrance  in  accordance  with  the  terms 
of  the  State  law  of  1872.  The  woman  took  out  a  writ 
of  habeas  corpus,  contending  that  she  did  not  come 
under  any  of  the  classes  that  could  justifiably  be  ex- 
cluded. In  his  decision  Judge  Field  said,  among  many 
other  good  things:  "  I  am  aware  of  the  very  general 
feeling  prevailing  in  this  State  against  the  Chinese,  and 
in  opposition  to  the  extension  of  any  encouragement 
to  their  immigration  hither.  It  is  felt  that  the  dissimi- 
larity in  physical  characteristics,  in  language,  in  man- 
ners, religion  and  habits,  will  always  prevent  any 
possible  assimilation  of  them  with  our  people.  Ad- 
mitting that  there  is  ground  for  this  feeling,  it  does  not 
justify  any  legislation  for  their  exclusion,  which  might 
not  be  adopted  against  the  inhabitants  of  the  most 
favored  nations  of  the  Caucasian  race  and  of  the  Chris- 
tian faith.  If  their  further  emigration  is  to  oe  stopped, 
recourse  must  be  had  to  the  Federal  Government, 
where  the  whole  power  over  this  subject  lies." 

It  was  pleaded  against  the  woman  that  she  was 
immoral,  but  no  proof  was  offered  upon  the  subject, 
and  only  the  commissioner's  opinion  was  taken  as 
sufficient  justification  to  exclude  her  on  that  ground. 
Judge  Field  at  once  riddled  that  doctrine  and  defended 
the  honor  of  the  woman  —  even  though  a  Chinese  — 
against  any  but  the  most  positive  and  legal  proof. 


254  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

Accordingly  the  woman  won  her  suit  and  was  duly 
discharged. 

In  July,  1870,  an  ordinance  of  the  city  and  county 
of  San  Francisco  was  passed  for  the  regulation  of 
lodging-houses.  It  was  confessedly  an  attack  on  the 
Chinese,  and  in  1873  a  large  number  of  them  were 
arrested  and  fined  ten  dollars  each.  The  parties 
fined  hi  most  cases  preferred  to  go  to  jail  rather  than 
pay  the  fine.  By  a  law  of  the  State,  each  day's  im- 
prisonment discharges  two  dollars  of  the  fine.  The 
jails  were  crowded,  and  it  was  declared  that  the  refusal 
to  pay  the  fines  was  ordered  by  the  heads  of  the  Chinese 
Companies  in  order  to  make  the  city  "  sick  "  of  feeding 
the  Chinese  in  the  city  prisons. 

The  city  authorities  thereupon  enacted  a  new  or- 
dinance, two  provisions  of  which  were  avowedly  against 
the  Chinese,  —  though  of  course  their  name  was  not 
mentioned.  These  provided,  first,  that  any  person  duly 
committed  to  the  jail  should  have  the  hair  of  his  head 
cut  or  clipped  to  the  uniform  length  of  one  inch  from 
the  scalp,  and  second,  that  no  person  should  remove  or 
cause  to  be  removed,  from  any  cemetery  or  grave-yard 
within  the  limits  of  the  city  and  county,  the  remains  of 
any  deceased  person  or  persons  without  the  written 
permit  of  the  coroner. 

There  was  a  great  deal  of  discussion  about  this 
ordinance,  and  much  opposition  on  account  of  its 
manifest  injustice  and  discrimination  against  the 
Chinese.  That  it  was  "  smart  "  and  "  clever  "  no 
one  denied.  In  1876  the  State  legislature  was  drawn 
into  the  matter  and  passed  an  act  which,  with  a  re- 


STEPHEN  J.  FIELD  255 

enactment  of  the  hair-cutting  ordinance,  was  to  "do 
the  trick." 

A  Chinaman,  Ah  Kow,  was  arrested  under  the  ordi- 
nance, ordered  to  pay  a  fine  of  ten  dollars,  which  he 
refused,  was  jailed  and  there  had  his  queue -cut  off  by 
the  sheriff.  Whereupon  he  sued  the  sheriff  for  ten 
thousand  dollars  damages. 

The  case  came  before  Judge  Field.  His  decision 
is  most  interesting  and  instructive  reading,  and  I  com- 
mend it  to  the  youth  of  the  State  as  a  model  of  clean-cut 
justice,  vigorous  though  legal  English,  and  pure  mo- 
rality. Here  are  a  few  extracts: 

"  The  second  objection  to  the  ordinance  in  question 
is  equally  conclusive.  It  is  special  legislation,  on  the 
part  of  the  supervisors,  against  a  class  of  persons  who, 
under  the  Constitution  and  laws  of  the  United  States, 
are  entitled  to  the  equal  protection  of  the  laws.  The 
ordinance  was  intended  only  for  the  Chinese  in  San 
Francisco.  This  was  avowed  by  the  Supervisors  on 
its  passage,  and  was  so  understood  by  every  one.  The 
ordinance  is  known  in  the  community  as  the  '  Queue 
Ordinance,'  being  so  designated  from  its  purpose  to 
reach  the  queues  of  the  Chinese,  and  it  is  not  enforced 
against  any  other  persons.  The  reason  advanced  for 
its  adoption,  and  now  urged  for  its  continuance,  is 
that  only  the  dread  of  the  loss  of  his  queue  will  induce  a 
Chinaman  to  pay  his  fine.  That  is  to  say,  in  order  to 
enforce  the  payment  of  a  fine  imposed  upon  him,  it  is 
necessary  that  torture  should  be  super- added  to  im- 
prisonment. Then,  it  is  said,  the  Chinaman  will  not 
accept  the  alternative,  which  the  law  allows,  of  work- 


256  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

ing  out  his  fine  by  imprisonment,  and  the  State  or 
county  will  be  saved  the  expense  of  keeping  him  during 
his  imprisonment.  Probably  the  bastinado,  or  the 
knout,  or  the  thumbscrew,  or  the  rack,  would  accom- 
plish the  same  end;  and  no  doubt  the  Chinaman  would 
prefer  either  of  these  modes  of  torture  to  that  which 
entails  upon  him  disgrace  among  his  countrymen  and 
carries  with  it  the  constant  dread  of  suffering  and  mis- 
fortune after  death.  It  is  not  creditable  to  the  hu- 
manity and  civilization  of  our  people,  much  less  to 
their  Christianity,  that  an  ordinance  of  this  kind  was 
possible. 

"  The  class  character  of  this  legislation  is  none  the 
less  manifest  because  of  the  general  terms  in  which 
it  is  expressed.  The  statements  of  Supervisors  in 
debate  on  the  passage  of  the  ordinance,  cannot,  it  is 
true,  be  resorted  to  for  the  purpose  of  explaining  the 
meaning  of  the  terms  used;  but  they  can  be  resorted 
to  for  the  purpose  of  ascertaining  the  general  object 
of  the  legislation  proposed,  and  the  mischiefs  sought 
to  be  remedied.  Besides,  we  cannot  shut  our  eyes  to 
matters  of  public  notoriety  and  general  cognizance. 
When  we  take  our  seats  on  the  bench  we  are  not  struck 
with  blindness,  and  forbidden  to  know  as  judges  what 
we  see  as  men;  and  where  an  ordinance,  though  general 
in  its  terms,  only  operates  upon  a  special  race,  sect, 
or  class,  it  being  universally  understood  that  it  is  to  be 
enforced  only  against  that  race,  sect,  or  class,  we  may 
justly  conclude  that  it  was  the  intention  of  the  body 
adopting  it  that  it  should  only  have  such  operation, 
and  treat  it  accordingly.  .  .  .  The  complaint  in  this 


STEPHEN  J.  FIELD  257 

case  shows  that  the  ordinance  acts  with  special  severity 
upon  Chinese  prisoners,  inflicting  upon  them  suffer  ing 
altogether  disproportionate  to  what  would  be  endured 
by  other  prisoners  if  enforced  against  them.  Upon  the 
Chinese  prisoners  its  enforcement  operates  as  '  a  cruel 
and  unusual  punishment.' 

"  Many  illustrations  might  be  given  where  ordi- 
nances, general  in  their  terms,  would  operate  only  upon 
a  special  class,  or  upon  a  class  with  special  severity, 
and  thus  incur  the  odium  and  be  subject  to  the  legal 
objection  of  intended  hostile  legislation  against  them. 
We  have,  for  instance,  in  our  community,  a  large 
number  of  Jews.  They  are  a  highly  intellectual  race, 
and  are  generally  obedient  to  the  laws  of  the  country. 
But,  as  is  generally  known,  they  have  peculiar  opinions 
with  respect  to  the  use  of  certain  articles  of  food,  which 
they  cannot  be  forced  to  disregard  without  extreme 
pain  and  suffering.  They  look,  for  example,  upon  the 
eating  of  pork  with  loathing.  It  is  an  offense  against 
their  religion,  and  is  associated  in  their  minds  with 
uncleanness  and  impurity.  Now,  if  they  should,  in 
some  quarter  of  the  city,  overcrowd  their  dwellings,  and 
thus  become  amenable,  like  the  Chinese,  to  the  act  con- 
cerning lodging-houses  and  sleeping-apartments,  an 
ordinance  of  the  Supervisors  requiring  that  all  prisoners 
confined  in  the  county  jail  should  be  fed  on  pork,  would 
be  seen  by  every  one  to  be  leveled  at  them;  and,  not- 
withstanding its  general  terms,  would  be  regarded 
as  a  special  law  in  its  purpose  and  operation. 

"  During  various  periods  of  English  history,  legis- 
lation, general  in  its  character,  has  often  been  enacted 


258  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

with  the  avowed  purpose  of  imposing  special  burdens 
and  restrictions  upon  Catholics;  but  that  legislation 
has  since  been  regarded  as  not  less  odious  and  obnoxious 
to  animadversion  than  if  the  persons  at  whom  it  was 
aimed  had  been  particularly  designated. 

"But,  in  our  country,  hostile  and  discriminating 
legislation  by  a  State  against  persons  of  any  class,  sect, 
creed,  or  nation,  in  whatever  form  it  may  be  expressed, 
is  forbidden  by  the  Fourteenth  Amendment  to  the 
Constitution.  That  amendment  in  its  first  section 
declares  who  are  citizens  of  the  United  States,  and  then 
enacts  that  no  State  shall  make  or  enforce  any  law 
which  shall  abridge  their  privileges  and  immunities. 
It  further  declares  that  no  State  shall  deprive  any 
person  (dropping  the  distinctive  term  citizen)  of  life, 
liberty  or  property,  without  due  process  of  law,  nor 
deny  to  any  person  the  equal  protection  of  the  laws. 
This  inhibition  upon  the  State  applies  to  all  the  instru- 
mentalities and  agencies  employed  in  the  administra- 
tion of  its  government;  to  its  executive,legislative,  and 
judicial  departments;  and  to  the  subordinate  legis- 
lative bodies  of  counties  and  cities.  And  the  quality 
of  protection  thus  assured  to  every  one  while  within 
the  United  States,  from  whatever  country  he  may  have 
come,  or  of  whatever  race  or  color  he  may  be,  implies 
not  only  that  the  courts  of  the  country  shall  be  open 
to  him  on  the  same  terms  as  to  all  others,  for  the  se- 
curity of  his  person  or  property,  the  prevention  or 
redress  of  wrongs,  and  the  enforcement  of  contracts; 
but  that  no  charges  or  burdens  shall  be  laid  upon  him 
which  are  not  equally  borne  by  others,  and  that  in 


STEPHEN  J.  FIELD  259 

the  administration  of  criminal  justice  he  shall  suffer  for 
his  offenses  no  greater  or  different  punishment." 

Then,  speaking  of  the  hostility  to  the  Chinese,  he 
says:  "Thoughtful  persons,  looking  at  the  millions 
which  crowd  the  opposite  shores  of  the  Pacific,  and 
the  possibility  at  no  distant  day  of  their  pouring  over 
in  vast  hordes  among  us,  giving  rise  to  fierce  antago- 
nisms of  race,  hope  that  some  way  may  be  devised  to 
prevent  their  further  immigration.  We  feel  the  force 
and  importance  of  these  considerations;  but  the  remedy 
for  the  apprehended  evil  is  to  be  sought  from  the 
general  government." 

In  concluding  his  decision  he  affirmed:  "  Nothing 
can  be  accomplished  by  hostile  and  spiteful  legislation 
on  the  part  of  the  State,  or  of  its  municipal  bodies, 
like  the  ordinance  hi  question  —  legislation  which  is 
unworthy  of  a  brave  and  manly  people." 

As  soon  as  this  decision  was  rendered,  the  press  and 
public  of  the  State  began  a  storm  of  abuse  against 
Justice  Field  that  was  fierce  and  virulent.  "  It  seemed 
as  though,  for  the  time,  reason  had  fled  from  the  minds 
of  the  people  of  the  State."  But  regardless  of  it  all, 
Mr.  Field  adhered  to  the  principles  he  had  laid  down, 
and  few  lawyers  of  to-day  will  be  found  who  will  dissent 
from  them.  That  it  required  moral  courage  to  do  this 
no  one  will  doubt,  when  I  assert  what  was  well  known 
at  the  time,  viz.,  that  had  it  not  been  for  that  decision 
and  the  "  fierce  opposition  and  hatred  it  engendered 
among  the  lowest  and  most  ignorant  of  the  political  party 
with  which  he  was  connected,"  he  would  have  re- 
ceived the  support  of  his  own  State  and  undoubtedly 


26o  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

the  nomination  of  the  National  Democratic  Conven- 
tion for  president. 

These  are  but  some  of  the  causes  with  which  the 
name  of  Justice  Stephen  J.  Field  is  inseparably  con- 
nected. His  life  and  work  throughout  were  character- 
ized by  the  same  devotion  to  principle,  the  same 
high  sense  of  honor,  the  same  fearless  heroism  in 
the  discharge  of  his  duty,  hence  it  is  well  that  he 
hold  a  high  place  on  the  roll  of  "  the  heroes  of  peace," 
who  have  added  lustre  to  the  fair  fame  of  the  State  of 
his  choice. 


CHAPTER  XXVI 

THE  SAVING  HERO  OF  PHILANTHROPY,  JAMES  LICK 

THE  term  "  miser  "  is  one  of  opprobrium  and 
obloquy,  which  no  man  of  sensitive  nature 
could  wish  to  have  applied  to  himself. 

At  the  outset  let  it  be  distinctly  understood  that 
James  Lick  was  not  a  miser  of  the  usurer  type.  Instead, 
as  will  be  shown  later,  he  was  at  times  so  extravagant 
as  to  lead  his  neighbors  to  denounce  his  reckless  ex- 
penditures. He  was  a  strange  mixture  of  penuriousness 
and  open-handedness,  and  being  a  man  of  strong 
character,  marked  personality,  unbending  will,  ap- 
parently caring  for  no  friendships,  almost  morose  and 
sullen  in  the  presence  of  women,  and  confining  his 
energies  to  his  various  business  enterprises,  there  is 
little  wonder  at  the  many  and  conflicting  statements 
current  in  regard  to  his  life  and  its  purposes. 

He  was  born  at  Fredericksburg,  Lebanon  County, 
Pennsylvania,  August  25,  1796.  As  a  youth  he  worked 
with  an  organ  builder  named  Aldt,  in  Hanover,  Penn- 
sylvania, and  in  1819  found  employment  with  Joseph 
Hishey,  a  prominent  piano  manufacturer  of  Baltimore. 
He  was  working  there  one  day,  when  a  young  man  came 
in  seeking  employment.  Lick  interested  himself  on 
his  behalf,  gave  him  breakfast,  and  secured  him  a 


262  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

position,  thus  forming  a  friendship  which  practically 
lasted  for  life,  with  Conrad  Meyer,  afterwards  the 
noted  piano  maker  of  Philadelphia. 

In  1820  Lick  left  Hishey's  and  went  to  New  York 
to  start  in  business  on  his  own  account,  but  as  things 
did  not  shape  themselves  to  his  liking,  he  left  the 
United  States,  and  for  ten  years  engaged  in  piano- 
making  at  Buenos  Ayres.  In  1832  he  surprised  Meyer 
by  returning  with  a  forty  thousand  dollar  cargo  of 
hides  and  nutria  skins,  which  he  speedily  dis- 
posed of  at  a  profit,  but,  soon  growing  restless  for 
the  larger  life  and  freedom  of  the  newer  country,  he 
returned  to  South  America.  Here  he  wandered  about 
somewhat,  from  Buenos  Ayres  to  Valparaiso,  Callao, 
and  Lima.  Working  with  his  usual  industry  and 
energy,  he  accumulated  a  fortune.  He  remained 
eleven  years  in  Peru,  but  the  last  two  years  of  his  stay 
his  mind  was  much  taken  up  with  California.  He 
purchased  and  read  everything  he  could  find  descriptive 
of  the  land,  and  became  well  informed  as  to  its  advan- 
tages. The  inopportune  seizure  of  California  by 
Commodore  Jones  was  an  act  which  called  the  atten- 
tion of  the  world,  and  especially  of  South  America, 
not  only  to  California,  but  also  to  the  possibility  that, 
some  day,  the  United  States  might  seize  and  firmly 
hold  it.  And  when  the  news  spread  that  Commodore 
Sloat  had  placed  the  United  States  flag  upon  the  public 
buildings  of  Monterey  —  the  capital  city  of  California 
— •  James  Lick  came  to  the  conclusion  that  it  was  there 
to  stay,  and  decided  that  he  would  embark  for  the  new 
country.  To  get  away  he  had  to  sacrifice  his  stock, 


JAMES  LICK  263 

which  inventoried  nearly  sixty  thousand  dollars,  for 
thirty  thousand  dollars.  This  sum  was  paid  to  him  in 
doubloons,  and  to  transport  it  in  safety,  he  bought 
an  old  safe,  embarked  with  it,  and  landed  in  San 
Francisco  in  the  ship  Lady  Adams  in  the  end  of  1847. 
His  first  purchase  in  San  Francisco  was  of  the  large  lot 
and  an  adobe  house  on  the  northeast  corner  of  what 
are  now  Montgomery  and  Jackson  Streets,  for  which 
he  paid  five  thousand  dollars. 

It  will  be  recalled  that,  in  the  spring  of  1848,  San 
Francisco  contained  a  population  of  barely  a  thousand 
inhabitants.  Upon  the  discovery  of  gold  came  an 
unprecedented  influx  of  population  from  all  parts  of 
the  globe.  The  majority,  both  of  the  newcomers  and 
of  the  older  inhabitants  of  the  town,  flocked  to  the 
mines,  while  a  sagacious  and  shrewd  minority  stayed 
behind.  Of  this  latter  class  was  James  Lick.  Even 
then  he  foresaw  the  possible  growth  of  San  Francisco, 
and  determined  to  profit  by  it.  In  those  days  the 
waters  of  the  bay  reached  up  as  far  as  the  site  of  the 
Palace  Hotel  and  Montgomery  Street,  and  the  southern- 
most street  was  California  Street.  Where  Market 
Street  now  is  was  a  high  ridge  of  sand,  and  all  the  way 
from  California  Street  to  Happy  Valley,  Montgomery 
Street  wound  and  straggled  through  irregular  and 
various-sized  sand  dunes.  The  rude  wharves  ran  up 
to  Sansome  Street  on  the  east;  Telegraph  Hill  was 
dotted  over  with  tents  and  shanties;  and  passengers 
were  "  dumped  "  rather  than  landed,  almost  as  the 
skipper  of  the  vessel  willed,  anywhere  from  Clark's 
Point  to  the  Potrero. 


264  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

Lick  carefully  went  over  the  ground,  determined 
what  seemed  to  him  to  be  the  natural  direction  for 
the  new  city's  growth,  and  -then  quietly  expended  a 
large  part  of  his  capital  in  the  purchase  of  sand  hills, 
chaparral-covered  dunes,  and  so-called  city  blocks, 
which  even  the  most  sanguine  scarcely  deemed  worthy 
of  acceptance  as  a  gift. 

In  1852  he  bought  a  fine  property  near  San  Jose, 
and  erected  thereupon  the  flour  mill  which  made  his 
name  world-famed.  Hitherto  his  expenditures  had 
been  so  carefully  made,  and  he  was  so  scrupulous  about 
every  cent  in  a  transaction,  no  matter  how  large,  that 
he  had  gained  a  reputation  for  parsimoniousness,  yet 
in  the  erection  of  this  mill,  he  was  most  extravagant. 
He  finished  it  throughout  with  solid  mahogany,  polished 
with  the  same  care  and  skill  that  he  used  to  bestow 
upon  the  piano  cases  of  his  earlier  days,  and  it  is 
affirmed  it  cost  him  fully  two  hundred  thousand  dollars. 
It  was  known  as  the  "  Mahogany  Mill "  and  also  as 
"  Lick's  Folly."  Yet,  as  it  turned  out  the  finest  flour  then 
made  in  California,  it  was  a  paying  investment,  and 
its  product  commanded  the  market  of  the  whole 
coast.  Around  the  mill  he  planted  an  orchard  of  fruit 
trees  with  his  own  hands,  and  this,  in  itself,  soon 
proved  to  be  a  fortune.  It  was  owing  to  his  peculiar 
and  individualistic  ideas  as  to  fruit  culture  that  another 
story  of  his  miserliness  became  current.  He  had  a 
theory  that  all  trees  were  materially  improved  by  the 
presence  of  bones  around  the  roots.  Accordingly 
he  went  around  the  town,  to  the  restaurants  and 
private  houses,  securing  all  the  stray  bones  he  could 


JAMES  LICK  265 

find,  which  he  then  carefully  buried  around  the  roots 
of  his  trees.  As  he  offered  no  explanation  of  his  peculiar 
request,  all  kinds  of  stories  were  spread  as  to  the  uses 
to  which  the  bones  were  placed. 

But  he  had  other  and  larger  interests  in  San  Fran- 
cisco, and  was  also  interested  in  the  work  of  the  Paine 
Memorial  Society  of  Boston,  so  he  donated  the  mill 
and  orchard  on  January  16,  1873,  to  tm's  society,  one- 
half  of  the  proceeds  of  the  sale  to  be  used  for  building 
a  Memorial  Hall,  and  the  other  half  to  sustain  a  lecture 
course.  It  scarcely  needs  to  be  added  that  he  was  highly 
disgusted  when  an  agent  of  the  Boston  society  came  to 
California,  sold  the  property,  without  consulting  him, 
for  eighteen  thousand  dollars  cash,  and  returned  with 
the  money  to  the  city  of  culture. 

To  this  day  the  older  residents  of  San  Jose  tell  of 
Lick's  careful  mode  of  living,  while  owning  the  palatial 
mill.  He  lived  in  a  small  cottage,  meagrely  and  simply 
furnished,  and  drove  an  old  rattletrap  wagon,  tied 
together  with  rope,  and  with  a  harness  that  could  only 
be  called  leather  through  a  courteous  remembrance  of 
its  early  days.  He  was  careless  about  his  clothing, 
unsociable  in  his  nature,  and  never  entertained  man 
or  woman  at  his  own  table.  Naturally  such  a  man 
was  regarded  as  "  queer,"  and  his  indifference  to  dress 
and  general  appearance  was  put  down  to  miserliness. 
Yet  James  Lick  proceeded  on  the  even  tenor  of  his 
way,  planting  rare  and  beautiful  trees,  which  he  im- 
ported from  all  parts  of  the  world  at  great  expense,  and 
as  the  result  of  large  correspondence.  Indeed,  it  can 
safely  be  affirmed  that  to  him,  more  than  to  any  other 


266  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

person  up  to  the  day  of  his  death,  California  owes  its 
wealth  of  imported  trees  and  shrubbery. 

As  soon  as  San  Francisco  began  to  grow,  Lick  erected 
what  was,  in  its  day,  the  most  elaborate,  magnificent 
and  palatial  —  in  the  truest  sense  of  that  much  abused 
word  —  hotel  in  the  world.  It  was  ahead  of  its  time, 
yet  in  a  city  of  such  marvellous  growth  and  profligate 
expenditure  as  San  Francisco,  it  was  soon  surpassed. 
The  dining-room  was  fashioned  after  that  of  the  palace 
of  Versailles,  the  floor  alone  being  composed  of  many 
thousands  of  pieces  of  inlaid  rare  and  costly  woods, 
all  polished  like  a  piano  case.  With  his  own  hands  he 
carved  some  of  the  rosewood  frames  of  the  mirrors, 
and  he  engaged  the  leading  California  artists  to  paint 
their  best  pictures  for  panels  around  the  room. 

At  the  age  of  seventy-seven  he  found  himself  in  f  ailing 
health,  possessed  of  several  millions  of  dollars,  with 
practically  no  one  dependent  upon  him.  For  some  time 
he  had  contemplated  giving  to  the  California  Academy 
of  Sciences  a  piece  of  land  on  Market  Street,  for  the 
erection  of  a  building  for  a  museum  and  office  pur- 
poses. This  gift  was  largely  brought  about  through 
the  wise  suggestions  made  to  Mr.  Lick  by  William  H. 
Knight,  then  in  charge  of  the  California  books  of  the  Ban- 
croft store,  a  member  of  the  Academy,  and  later  the  presi- 
dent of  the  Southern  California  Academy  of  Sciences. 
Professor  George  Davidson,  of  the  Coast  Survey,  then 
president  of  the  Academy,  called  to  thank  him  for 
his  gift,  and  in  the  conversation  that  followed,  Mr. 
Lick  disclosed  his  intention  of  leaving  a  large  sum  of 
money  for  the  erection  of  the  most  powerful  telescope 


JAMES  LICK  267 

yet  constructed.  His  ideas  were  unformed,  his  knowl- 
edge of  the  science  exceedingly  limited,  and  he  was  self- 
willed  to  a  degree.  Yet  so  earnest  was  he  in  his  de- 
termination to  found  the  Observatory  that  Professor 
Davidson  held  many  conferences  with  him  from  Feb- 
ruary, 1873,  to  August,  1874,  in  regard  to  the  subject. 
Of  these  he  says: 

"  James  Lick  originally  intended  to  erect  the  Ob- 
servatory at  Fourth  and  Market  Streets  (San  Francisco). 
His  ideas  of  what  he  wanted  and  what  he  should  do 
were  of  the  very  vaguest  character.  It  required  months 
of  careful  approaches  and  the  proper  presentation  of 
facts  to  change  his  views  on  location.  He  next  had  a 
notion  of  locating  it  on  the  mountains  overlooking  his 
mill-site,  near  Santa  Clara,  and  thought  it  would 
be  a  Mecca,  —  but  only  in  the  sense  of  a  show. 

"  Gradually  I  guided  his  judgment  to  place  it 
on  a  great  elevation  in  the  Sierra  Nevadas,  by  placing 
before  him  the  results  of  my  experimental  work  at 
great  elevations,  as  well  as  the  experience  of  other  high- 
altitude  observers.  At  the  same  time,  by  my  presenta- 
tion of  facts  and  figures  of  the  cost  and  maintenance 
of  other  observatories,  he  named  the  sum  of  one  million, 
two  hundred  thousand  dollars  in  one  of  his  wills,  as 
the  sum  to  be  set  aside  for  founding  the  James  Lick 
Observatory,  and  for  its  support." 

On  July  16,  1874,  he  made  an  agreement,  or  really 
a  deed  of  trust,  turning  over  to  certain  well-known 
citizens  of  San  Francisco,  the  California  Academy  of 
Sciences,  and  the  Society  of  California  Pioneers,  his 
vast  estate,  to  be  by  them  used  for  the  various  scientific 


268  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

and  philanthropic  purposes  specified.  The  gifts  to  his 
relatives  in  all  amounted  only  to  twenty- four  thousand 
dollars,  but  for  the  Observatory  he  set  aside  seven  hun- 
dred thousand  dollars,  the  same  to  contain  a  "  powerful 
telescope,  superior  to  and  more  powerful  than  any 
telescope  ever  yet  made,"  which  was  to  be  located  on  a 
site  he  had  already  purchased  on  the  borders  of  Lake 
Tahoe,  Placer  County,  California. 

The  trustees  named  took  possession  of  the  property 
in  accordance  with  the  trust  deed,  sold  some  of  the 
property  and  were  duly  proceeding  to  carry  out  the 
provisions  of  the  deed  when  Mr.  Lick  changed  his 
mind  and  wrote  them  the  following  letter.  It  was  dated 
San  Francisco,  March  24,  1875. 

"  When  I  executed  the  instrument  in  which  you  are 
named  as  my  trustees,  I  supposed  I  had  a  very  short 
time  to  live,  and  that  if  my  intentions  of  founding  an 
observatory  and  other  public  institutions  were  ever  to 
be  carried  out,  it  would  be  through  you.  I  was  there- 
fore induced,  hastily  and  without  due  and  proper  con- 
sideration, to  execute  the  instrument  referred  to.  It  is 
still  my  intention,  and  ever  will  be,  to  carry  out  the 
general  purposes  therein  expressed,  but  I  now  find 
upon  a  cool  and  careful  study  of  the  provisions  of  that 
instrument  which  my  improved  health  has  enabled 
me  to  make,  that  there  are  many  and  serious  mistakes 
and  errors  of  detail  in  it  which  ought  to  be  corrected. 
One  of  the  most  serious  of  these  is,  that  by  the  terms 
of  the  said  instrument,  the  execution  of  the  great  works 
which  I  have  contemplated  is  virtually  postponed  until 
after  my  death  —  a  result  that  I  certainly  never  in- 


THE    SUMMIT,   LICK   OBSERVATORY,    MT.    HAMILTON,    CALIFORNIA. 

Page  270 


MAIN    BUILDING,    LICK   OBSERVATORY,   MT.    HAMILTON,    CAL. 


z  p 


z  >. 
-  ai 
x  p 


JAMES  LICK  269 

tended.  Another  serious  objection  is  that  some  of  the 
beneficiaries  (whose  claims  upon  me  I  perhaps  did  not 
sufficiently  consider)  have  declined  to  accept  its  terms, 
and  this  fact,  as  I  am  advised,  will  indefinitely  delay, 
if  not  entirely  prevent,  the  carrying  out  of  the  plans, 
for  the  execution  of  which  you  were  appointed  my 
trustees  and  agents. 

"  Under  the  circumstances,  and  as  I  desire  while  I 
still  live  to  see  the  works  contemplated  at  least  started, 
and  as  I  am  advised  and  am  entirely  satisfied  that  the 
instrument  referred  to  does  not  and  cannot  accomplish 
the  purposes  desired  by  the  public,  as  well  as  myself, 
I  respectfully  ask  you,  and  each  of  you,  to  resign  or  to 
revest  in  me  the  subject  of  the  trust,  so  that  by  the  exe- 
cution of  other  papers  better  calculated  to  carry  out 
my  plans,  the  works  contemplated  from  the  beginning 
may  at  once  be  commenced  and  carried  on  to  com- 
pletion without  delay." 

I  have  thus  quoted  this  letter  in  full  for  two  important 
reasons.  One  is  that  it  shows  that  James  Lick  was 
willing,  openly,  to  confess  that  he  had  been  too  hasty; 
and  the  second  is,  that  he  saw  clearly  that  the  way  to 
have  his  wishes  carried  out  was  to  get  them  well  started 
while  he  was  alive. 

Three  days  after  the  date  of  this  letter  the  board 
of  trustees  acceded  to  his  request,  and  a  complete  revo- 
cation of  the  trust  deed  was  filed  with  the  recorder. 

This  action  caused  a  vast  amount  of  unfavorable 
comment  by  those  who  were  not  willing  to  believe 
in  Mr.  Lick's  good  faith,  but  it  made  no  difference 
whatever  to  him.  He  called  conferences  with  his 


270  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

heirs,  finally  settled  with  them  as  to  their  wishes,  and 
received  signed  releases  against  his  estate  and  pledges 
that  they  would  not  contest  his  will.  Then,  free  from 
all  fear  of  disturbance,  he  conferred  afresh  with  scien- 
tists, men  of  affairs,  philanthropists  andv  others,  made 
a  fresh  trust  deed  (dated  September  21,  1875),  aP~ 
pointing  five  new  trustees,  of  which  his  son,  John  H. 
Lick,  was  one.  There  were  a  few  minor  changes  in 
the  benefactions,  but  in  the  main  they  remained  as  he 
originally  wrote  them. 

But  this  second  board  wras  not  entirely  satisfactory, 
and  a  third  one  was  selected  in  1876.  On  the  first  of 
October  of  this  year  he  passed  away,  and  though 
several  legal  complications  hampered  the  carrying  out 
of  the  provisions  of  the  trust  for  some  three  years, 
they  were  ultimately  set  in  motion  and  have  all  been 
successfully  completed. 

The  chairman  of  this  third  board,  Captain  R.  S. 
Floyd,  and  the  vice-chairman,  Mr.  J.  S.  Sherman, 
afterwards  placed  in  my  hands  many  letters  and  papers 
of  James  Lick,  from  which  some  interesting  facts  were 
gleaned.  The  Tahoe  site  for  the  Observatory  was  given 
up  on  account  of  the  winter  cold.  Mount  St.  Helena 
was  considered,  but  it  was  not  until  his  old  henchman 
and  confidential  man  of  business,  Thomas  E.  Fraser, 
assured  him  that  Mount  Hamilton,  overlooking  his 
former  home  at  San  Jose,  was  over  four  thousand  feet 
high,  that  he  decided  to  locate  it  there.  In  impetuous 
haste  he  sent  Mr.  Fraser  that  same  day  to  ride  or  climb 
to  the  summit  and  see  whether  it  was  possible  to 
build  an  observatory  there,  and  on  his  return  with  a 


JAMES  LICK  271 

crude  plan,  showing  that  after  certain  leveling  was 
done  it  would  be  a  very  favorable  site,  and  would  still 
be  over  the  stipulated  height,  he  made  a  proposition 
to  the  Board  of  Supervisors  that  if  they  would  build  a 
good  wagon  road  to  the  summit,  he  would  pledge  himself 
to  erect  there  the  great  Observatory  that  should  contain 
the  largest  telescope  yet  made. 

This  road,  twenty-six  miles  long,  was  built  in  1876 
at  a  cost  of  seventy-eight  thousand  dollars,  and  the 
Observatory  duly  established  there,  and  many  thou- 
sands from  all  parts  of  the  world  have  since  visited  it. 
It  should  not  be  forgotten,  however,  that  Mount  Hamil- 
ton was  on  government  land,  therefore,  in  June,  1876, 
an  act  was  passed  by  Congress,  granting  the  site  to  the 
University  of  California. 

His  greatest  benefactions  are  those  which  have 
helped  the  poor  and  needy;  the  free  baths,  where  not 
only  all  may  "  wash  and  be  clean,"  but  where  laundries 
with  drying  grounds  and  rooms  are  provided  for  the 
poor,  where  they  may  do  their  laundry  free  of  expense, 
and  thus  remove  the  discomfort  of  it  from  their  small 
homes;  the  Old  Ladies'  Home,  where  women  with  few 
or  no  friends  may  spend  their  declining  years  at  least 
free  from  sordid  cares;  gifts  to  the  orphans  of  San 
Francisco  and  San  Jose;  to  the  Society  for  the  Pre- 
vention of  Cruelty  to  Animals;  and  the  School  of 
Mechanical  Arts,  which  has  aided  thousands  of 
youth  of  both  sexes  to  gain  practical  knowledge 
giving  them  an  upward  step  in  life. 

That  James  Lick  was  an  eccentric  man  none  will 
deny.  That  his  gifts  were  the  result  of  varied  and  mixed 


272  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

motives  is  also  true.  But  the  main  facts  of  his  life 
stand  out  boldly  and  clearly.  These  are,  first,  that  he 
was  indifferent  to  the  ill  will  of  those  who  assumed 
that  he  was  a  miser,  and,  second,  that  he  bore  them 
no  malice  for  this  false  assumption.  He  gave  of  his 
vast  fortune  for  the  benefit  of  the  people,  many  of 
whom,  doubtless,  had  cast  animadversions  upon  him. 
These  two  facts  denote  him  a  man  of  large  soul  and  of 
heroic  character,  and  one  whom  the  youth  of  California 
and  elsewhere  may  well  admire  and  emulate. 


CHAPTER   XXVII 

THE  TENACIOUS  HERO  OF  THE  COMSTOCK, 
ADOLPH  SUTRO 

TO  further  any  large  and  legitimate  enterprise  which 
engages  the  labor  of  a  great  number  of  people 
and  confers  benefits  on  many  is  a  praiseworthy  under- 
taking, but  to  father  an  enterprise  by  new  and  hitherto 
untried  methods,  which  produce  these  beneficent 
results,  is  heroic.  Such  was  the  work  of  Adolph  Sutro, 
one  time  mayor  of  San  Francisco,  the  creator  of  Sutro 
Heights,  the  planter  of  the  Sutro  Forest,  the  builder 
of  the  Cliff  House  and  the  Sutro  Baths;  and  the  pro- 
jector of  the  San  Francisco  which  is  now  growing  up 
in  that  immediate  neighborhood.  The  work  to  which 
I  refer  was  the  planning  and  construction  of  the  Sutro 
Tunnel,  in  connection  with  the  celebrated  Comstock 
mines  in  Nevada.  Few  people  of  this  generation  can 
recall  the  heroic  battle  fought  by  Mr.  Sutro,  but  as  it 
was  a  turning  point  in  his  own  life  and  led  to  his  be- 
coming a  leader  in  good  work  for  the  benefit  of  the  com- 
mon people,  it  is  worthy  of  an  important  place  in  this 
California  Hero  book. 

Born  in  Aix-la-Chapelle,  Germany,  April  29,  1830, 
of  well-to-do  parents,  whose  house,  still  standing,  is  an 
indication  of  their  prosperous  position,  young  Adolph  was 


274  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

given  a  fair  education  and  early  set  to  work.  At  six- 
teen he  was  superintendent  of  his  father's  cloth  factory, 
and  at  eighteen  was  sent  to  establish  and  then  manage  a 
branch  factory  at  Memel,  in  Eastern  Prussia.  In  1847 
his  father  died,  leaving  a  large  family  of  young  children. 
The  Revolution  of  1848  ruined  his  business.  As  all  of 
his  sons  were  too  young  to  cope  with  the  great  diffi- 
culties that  arose,  Mrs.  Sutro  decided  to  come  to  the 
United  States,  where  she  thought  her  boys  would  have 
a  better  chance  in  life.  She  accordingly  left  for  Balti- 
more, but,  on  the  arrival  of  the  family  in  New  York, 
that  city  was  found  to  be  in  the  exciting  throes  of  the 
first  news  of  the  California  gold  discovery.  This 
decided  young  Adolph,  so  leaving  his  mother  and  the 
rest  of  the  family  to  proceed  on  their  way,  he  immedi- 
ately reembarked  for  San  Francisco,  where  he  arrived 
November  21,  1850,  with  a  fortune  which  consisted 
solely  of  "  health,  hope,  courage,  ambition  and  in- 
domitable energy."  To  this  category  should  be  added 
character,  for  without  that  he  never  could  have  attained 
to  what  the  future  had  in  store  for  him. 

The  first  nine  years  of  his  life  on  the  Pacific  Coast  were 
devoted  to  petty  trade,  —  the  buying  and  selling  of 
anything  that  assured  a  profit.  In  1856  he  married. 
Three  years  later  he  felt  a  similar  thrill  to  that  which 
had  allured  him  to  California,  caused  by  the  discovery 
of  the  afterwards  world-celebrated  Comstock  lode  in 
Nevada. 

Immediately  the  mining  and  speculative  world  ran 
to  the  scene,  and  the  activity  displayed  was  marvelous. 
Shafts  were  dug,  mines  opened,  mills  erected,  with  all 


ADOLPH  SUTRO  275 

the  necessary  camp  accompaniments,  with  incredible 
speed,  and  when  the  silver  and  gold  began  to  pour  into 
the  mints  and  markets  of  the  country,  the  excitement 
and  exodus  Nevadaward  increased.  Among  those 
caught  in  this  enlarged  flood  was  Adolph  Sutro.  He 
went  to  Virginia  City,  and  in  a  very  short  time  his 
practical  and  trained  mind  saw  that  the  clumsy  and 
old-fashioned  methods  being  followed  in  mining  were 
both  inadequate  to  the  needs  and  frightfully  expensive. 
The  shafts  of  the  mines  were  deep,  as  low  as  fifteen 
hundred  feet ;  the  temperature  in  the  lower  levels  high, 
ranging  even  to  110°  Fahrenheit;  great  volumes  of 
water  were  encountered,  and  pumping  fifteen  hundred 
feet  was  expensive;  the  air  was  foul  and  poisonous, 
and  like  an  inspiration  the  thought  flashed  through  the 
visitor's  mind:  Why  not  drain  and  ventilate  those 
mines  ? 

That  was  the  beginning  of  a  new  era,  not  only  in  the 
Comstock  mines,  but  in  Adolph  Sutro's  life.  Before 
this  is  considered,  however,  let  us  take  a  survey  of  the 
field  and  learn  somewhat  of  the  interesting  history  of 
this  noted  mining  region. 

Silver  had.  possibly  been  mined  on  Mount  Davidson 
before  the  discovery  of  the  Comstock  lode,  though 
it  is  not  certain.  Two  brothers,  Hosea  B.  and  Edgar 
Allen  Grosch,  sons  of  a  Universalist  minister  of  Utica, 
New  York,  as  early  as  1852  mined,  or  at  least  pros- 
pected, for  silver,  and  there  seems  to  be  an  impres- 
sion that  they  found  it,  though  the  Groschs  were  very 
reticent  about  their  doings.  They  did  not  associate 
with  the  other  prospectors,  and  seem  to  have  been  of 


276  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

a  very  superior  class,  rumor  crediting  them  with  an 
extensive  library  in  their  cabin,  which  stood  near  where 
Silver  City  later  was  located. 

In  January,  1859,  H.  T.  P.  Comstock  and  others, 
among  whom  was  a  man  named  John  Bishop,  went 
prospecting  from  Johnstown,  and  reached  a  hillock  in 
Gold  Canyon,  where  they  found  a  little  gold  in  the 
quartz.  Their  prospect  pans  gave  them  gold  as  fine 
as  flour  and  only  small  amounts,  but  as  there  was  plenty 
of  water  near  by  to  work  the  placers  with,  they  decided 
to  locate  the  area,  and  call  it  Gold  Hill.  Among  these 
miners  were  Peter  O'Riley  and  Pat  McLaughlin.  They 
located  well  up  at  the  head  of  the  ravine,  but  their 
"  diggings  "  did  not  "  pan  out  "  quite  as  well  as  those 
lower  down,  —  only  about  one  dollar  and  a  half  to 
two  dollars  per  day,  and  they  soon  began  to  feel  dis- 
couraged. Water  was  scarce,  so  they  decided  to  dig 
a  hole  to  make  a  reservoir.  At  a  depth  of  about  four 
feet  they  struck  into  the  rich  decomposed  ore  of 
what  afterwards  was  known  as  the  Ophir  mine.  It  was 
queer  looking  stuff,  —  a  great  bed  of  black  sulphurets 
of  silver  filled  with  spangles  of  native  gold.  The  gold, 
however,  was  of  a  much  lighter  color  than  that  hitherto 
found,  and  for  awhile  they  were  uneasy  lest  it  were 
not  pure  metal.  But  they  were  glad  for  any  kind  of 
a  "  change  of  luck,"  and  now  they  found  the  bottoms 
of  their  rockers  covered  with  gold  as  soon  as  a  few 
buckets  of  the  new  dirt  had  been  washed.  Soon  they 
were  taking  out  a  thousand  dollars'  worth  of  gold  a  day, 
with  the  rockers  alone.  Then  they  took  the  harder 
lumps  left  on  the  screens,  and  pounded  them  in  a  com- 


ADOLPH  SUTRO  277 

mon  hand  mortar,  and  one  of  them  thus  took  out  one 
hundred  dollars  a  day  in  gold. 

The  day  the  discovery  was  made,  Comstock  hap- 
pened upon  the  scene,  and  on  seeing  the  unusual  quality 
of  the  ore  coolly  told  the  two  miners  that  they  were 
working  on  his  land,  — that  he  had  "  taken  up  "  one 
hundred  and  sixty  acres  as  a  ranch,  and  that  he  also 
owned  the  water  they  were  using.  There  seems  to  have 
been  some  doubt  expressed  later  whether  Comstock 
had  posted  up  the  notices  required  by  the  law  before 
he  could  legally  claim  the  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres 
and  the  water,  but,  at  the  time,  he  thoroughly  con- 
vinced the  two  miners  and  refused  to  allow  them  to 
work  unless  he  and  his  friend  Penrod  were  admitted 
to  an  equal  share  in  the  claim,  with  an  additional 
hundred  feet  for  the  use  of  the  water.  After  some 
haggling,  his  terms  were  agreed  to,  and  these  four  men, 
and  another  named  J.  A.  Osborne,  commonly  known 
as  "  Kentuck,"  became  the  recorded  locators  of  the 
world-famed  Ophir  mine,  which  in  about  ten  years 
yielded  nearly  five  millions  of  dollars'  worth  of  gold  and 
silver. 

These  original  miners,  however,  had  no  idea  that 
the  blue-looking,  heavy  rock,  which  sank  to  the  bottom 
of  their  pans  and  bothered  them  so,  was  of  any  value. 
They  cursed  it,  and  wished  the  gold  were  not  found 
in  such  unworkable  company.  Not  only  did  they  not 
save  this  rock  and  its  shattered  particles,  but  they  most 
conscientiously  got  rid  of  it  as  rapidly  as  possible. 
Its  worth  was  not  discovered  until  a  gentleman  from 
the  Truckee  meadows  visited  the  spot,  and  picking  up 


278  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

a  piece  of  this  "  cursed  blue  rock,"  took  it  with  him, 
merely  as  a  curiosity.  He  gave  it  to  Judge  James  Walsh 
of  Grass  Valley,  who  took  it  to  the  assay  office  of 
Melville  Atwood,  which  happened  to  be  not  far  from 
his  own.  To  the  blank  astonishment  of  all  concerned,  it 
was  found  that  this  ore  yielded  at  the  rate  of  several 
thousand  dollars  per  ton  in  gold  and  silver.  As  soon 
as  this  fact  was  known,  excitement  took  full  possession 
of  the  town,  and  in  less  than  twenty-four  hours  there 
began  an  exodus  from  California  to  these  new  mines, 
the  locators  of  which  were  quietly  washing  out  the 
gold,  and  throwing  away  the  silver,  perfectly  content 
that  they  had  the  "  biggest  thing  on  earth  "  as  it  was. 

When  the  newcomers  arrived,  they  began  to  swarm 
over  the  hills  like  grasshoppers.  Soon  the  original 
prospectors  were  so  lost  in  the  crowd  that  they  were 
hardly  known  or  recognized.  But  the  reports  of  the 
new  finds  soon  brought  men  of  understanding,  and 
under  their  direction  the  mining  began  to  be  done 
in  a  more  scientific  manner,  and  the  world  learned  that 
a  real  "  bonanza  "  had  been  found. 

The  location  of  these  mines  is  on  Mount  Davidson, 
a  forbidding  peak  of  a  range  of  hills  that  runs  east  of, 
and  parallel  with,  the  Sierra  Nevada.  The  country 
slopes  down  to  the  valley  of  the  Carson  River,  and  it 
was  this  slope  towards  the  Carson  that  led  Adolph 
Sutro  to  formulate  his  Tunnel  Plan  for  working  the 
Comstock  mines.  As  we  have  seen,  he  visited  the 
mines  soon  after  the  discovery  of  their  great  wealth, 
and  had  seen  some  of  the  ore  brought  out.  Says  he: 
"  I  had  expected  to  see  an  extraordinary  deposit,  but 


Si 

M 
u 
O 


ADOLPH   SUTRO  279 

I  was  astonished  at  the  magnitude  and  importance  of 
the  discoveries  that  had  been  made.  At  that  time  only 
forty  tons  of  ore  had  been  taken  from  the  mines  and 
sent  to  San  Francisco.  Their  reduction  yielded  a  sum 
in  the  gross  of  one  hundred  and  sixty  thousand  dollars, 
or  an  average  of  four  thousand  dollars  to.  the  ton  — 
the  most  profitable  forty  tons  that  have  ever  been 
worked  from  that  lode."  This  was  in  March,  1860. 
On  the  twentieth  of  April  a  letter  that  he  had  written 
appeared  in  the  San  Francisco  Alia  California,  in 
which  he  said: 

"  The  working  of  the  mines  is  done  without  any 
system  as  yet.  Most  of  the  companies  commence 
without  an  eye  to  future  success.  Instead  of  running  a 
tunnel  from  low  down  on  the  hill,  and  then  sinking 
a  shaft  to  meet  it,  which  at  once  insures  drainage,  ven- 
tilation, and  facilitates  the  work  by  going  upwards, 
the  claims  are  mostly  entered  from  above  and  large 
openings  made,  which  require  considerable  timbering, 
and  expose  the  mine  to  all  sorts  of  difficulties." 

Here  was  the  inception  of  the  idea  of  the  Sutro 
Tunnel.  In  1861  Mr.  Sutro  erected  a  mill  for  the 
reduction  of  the  ores,  so  that  it  would  not  be  necessary 
to  ship  them  to  San  Francisco,  and  then  he  began  to 
work  for  the  tunnel.  In  1864  he  went  to  the  State 
Legislature  of  Nevada  and  petitioned  it  to  do  all  that 
could  legally  be  done  to  give  him  a  right  of  way  for  the 
tunnel,  which  was  done,  section  two  of  the  act  defi- 
nitely stating  "  that  the  object  of  the  said  tunnel  is 
for  the  purpose  of  draining  the  Comstock  lode,  and 
all  other  lodes  along  its  line  of  direction  or  course, 


28o  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

and  for  the  discovery  and  development  of  other  lodes 
through  which  the  same  may  pass." 

In  spite  of  the  fact  that  the  Nevada  legislature  passed 
this  act,  many  of  the  members  thought  Mr.  Sutro  was 
hopelessly  insane  to  propose  anything  of  the  kind,  and 
that  it  could  never  be  accomplished.  They  seemed  to 
act  upon  the  theory  that  as  he  could  not  possibly  use 
the  franchise,  it  could  do  no  harm  to  grant  it,  and 
anyway  they  would  get  rid  of  him  and  his  importu- 
nities. 

But  they  did  not  know  their  man.  With  this  franchise 
he  organized  a  company,  the  president  of  which  wras 
United  States  Senator  Stewart,  —  a  man  of  great 
force  of  character  as  well  as  shrewd  business  ability. 
He  now  began  to  make  contracts  with  the  mines  on 
the  Comstock  lode,  but  was  met  on  every  hand  with 
the  indifference  of  men  who  were  used  to  mining  in 
one  fashion,  and  who  could  see  neither  sense  nor 
reason  in  any  new  plan.  With  tireless  energy,  and 
never- flagging  faith  in  his  scheme,  however,  he  worked 
on,  and  at  last  succeeded  in  closing  a  number  of  con- 
tracts by  which  the  Mining  Companies  bound  them- 
selves to  pay  the  Tunnel  Company  two  dollars  a  ton 
on  each  and  every  ton  of  ore  that  might  be  extracted 
for  all  time  to  come.  This  royalty  at  the  time  was 
deemed  a  small  sum,  if  the  advantages  Mr.  Sutro 
promised  were  actually  manifested. 

With  these  contracts  in  hand,  it  should  now  have 
been  an  easy  matter  for  the  Tunnel  Company  to  have 
raised  all  the  money  they  needed  for  the  construction 
of  the  tunnel.  But  to  their  amazement  a  sudden  hos- 


ADOLPH  SUTRO  281 

tility,  secret  and  powerful,  seemed  to  have  developed, 
and  capitalists  fought  shy  of  the  project. 

An  Act  of  Congress  was  now  applied  for,  granting 
to  Mr.  Sutro  the  right  to  construct  the  tunnel  through 
government  territory,  and  to  enjoy  the  profits  from  any 
mines  that  might  be  discovered  in  the  driving  of  the 
tunnel.  It  also  gave  the  privilege  of  buying  some  land 
at  the  mouth  of  the  tunnel,  and  confirmed  the  royalty 
rate  of  two  dollars  per  ton  to  be  paid  by  the  Mining 
Companies,  and  made  the  patents  of  companies  there- 
after obtained  subject  to  the  payment  of  the  same 
royalty.  It  was  thought  necessary  by  all  concerned 
to  have  these  two  latter  clauses  made  compulsory, 
or  else  it  might  be  possible  that  after  the  tunnel  was 
built,  at  tremendous  expense,  and  the  mines  drained 
and  ventilated  thereby,  some  company  would  repudiate 
its  contract,  and  thus  get  all  the  benefits,  while  refusing 
to  share  in  any  of  the  expense. 

Now  began  a  fight  that  for  virulence  and  persistency 
has  had  no  equal  on  this  coast.  The  most  powerful 
monied  interests  of  California  and  of  Nevada,  led  by 
the  Bank  of  California,  determined  to  prevent  the 
building  of  the  tunnel.  Mr.  Sutro  openly  claimed  their 
opposition  arose  because  they  were  now  alive  to  its 
importance,  and  to  the  financial  return  that  would 
come  from  it,  which  they  were  determined  to  secure 
for  themselves,  and  history  clearly  supports  his  con- 
tention. A  lesser  man  would  have  given  up  the  fight 
in  disgust,  and  have  died  broken-hearted.  But  not  so 
Adolph  Sutro.  He  proved  "  a  born  fighter,"  and  with 
a  simple  directness  that  looked  like  folly,  and  yet 


282  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

could  not  have  been  bettered  by  a  political  genius,  he 
began  to  fight  his  opponents  right  on  their  own  ground, 
where  their  authority  was  supreme,  their  word  law,  their 
acts  unquestioned,  and  their  arrogance  and  insolence 
unbounded. 

He  had  worked  on  his  plan  for  several  years,  ex- 
pended all  his  own  money  and  all  the  capital  he  could 
interest  in  securing  Congressional  action,  had  been 
several  times  to  Washington  and  to  Europe  at  great 
expense,  and  now  found  the  most  powerful  interests 
of  California  and  Nevada  blocking  his  further  progress. 
They  stopped  his  credit  throughout  the  banking  world, 
going  so  far  as  to  send  disparaging  telegrams  to  New 
York  and  European  banks;  and  they  owned  or  con- 
trolled all  the  newspapers  on  the  coast  and  in  Nevada, 
so  that  he  could  not  print  any  explanation  or  appeal 
about  the  tunnel,  even  though  he  paid  for  it.  They 
were  sure  they  had  him  cornered.  The  very  perfection 
and  completeness  (apparently)  of  their  plans  was  the 
secret  of  Sutro's  ultimate  success.  He  had  a  large 
number  of  sensational  announcements  printed,  and 
thoroughly  distributed  simultaneously  through  every 
street  of  Virginia  City  and  all  the  adjacent  mining 
camps,  calling  a  mass- meeting  of  the  miners,  and  tell- 
ing that  he  wished  to  lay  before  them  the  whole  of  his 
plans  and  ideas  in  regard  to  the  Sutro  Tunnel.  When  the 
hour  arrived,  the  miners  were  there  en  masse.  They 
admired  the  pluck  of  the  man;  they  knew  the  power  of 
the  interests  he  was  fighting,  and  they  were  well  aware 
that  it  was  "  on  the  cards  "  that  Sutro  was  to  be  crushed, 
and  the  Sutro  Tunnel  then  built  by  his  opponents. 


ADOLPH   SUTRO  283 

I  have  the  speech  that  Mr.  Sutro  delivered  on  that 
occasion  before  me  now  as  I  write.  How  it  rings  with 
the  natural  oratory  of  pure  democracy.  How  plain  and 
outspoken  it  was.  Here  was  no  political  trimming,  no 
straddling  the  fence,  no  vagueness,  no  uncertainty, 
no  temporizing.  The  speaker  used  Christ's  own 
method:  "  Let  your  yea  be  yea,  and  your  nay,  nay." 
He  said  exactly  what  he  meant,  and  meant  what  he  said 
to  be  understood  by  his  hearers  exactly  as  he  said  it. 
And  they  accepted  it  in  that  same  spirit.  Of  course  his 
enemies  called  it  the  speech  of  a  demagogue,  and 
claimed  that  he  had  tried  to  incite  his  hearers  to  vio- 
lence. In  a  hearing  of  the  Sutro  Tunnel  Commission, 
afterwards  appointed  by  Congress,  quotations  were  read 
from  this  speech  to  prove  this  claim.  Here  is  one  of  the 
quotations  so  used: 

"  Rouse  up,  then,  fellow  citizens.  You  have  no 
Andrew  Jackson  among  you  to  crush  out  the  bank 
which  has  taken  your  liberties,  but  you  have  the  power 
within  yourselves.  I  do  not  mean  to  incite  you  to  any 
violence;  I  do  not  mean  to  have  you  assert  your  rights 
by  riot,  force  and  threats.  That  would  be  unwise,  un- 
necessary, and  would  only  recoil  upon  yourselves.  But 
I  do  mean  to  say  that  you  can  destroy  your  enemy  by 
simple  concert  of  action.  Let  all  of  you  join  in  together 
to  build  the  Sutro  Tunnel ;  that  is  the  way  to  reach  them. 
They  do  already  tremble  lest  you  will  act;  they  know 
you  will  form  a  great  monied  power,  and  that  you  will 
own  the  mines;  they  know  it  will  cement  you  to- 
gether." 

The  whole  speech  is  a  document  that  should  be 


284  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

preserved.  It  is  full  of  historic  and  scientific  data  in 
regard  to  these  and  other  mines  that  are  invaluable 
to  the  student.  But  most  of  all  is  it  useful  as  a  revela- 
tion of  the  spirit  of  a  man  of  growing  power;  a  man, 
who,  unconsciously,  was  preparing  himself  to  be  a 
Voice  for  the  common  people.  True!  there  are  times 
when  his  indignation  asserts  itself,  and  this  indignation 
is  exercised  against  those  who  would  crush  out  his 
great  plans,  —  or  absorb  them  for  their  own  private 
advantage.  Yet  one  cannot  but  admire  the  pluck, 
the  courage,  the  daring  that  nerved  this  one  man, 
single-handed,  in  the  very  stronghold  of  the  enemy,  to 
say  such  words  of  them  as  these  : 

"  It  became  evident  to  me  that  the  ring  entertained 
the  opinion  that  their  combined  efforts  must  soon 
crush  me  out  and  use  me  up  financially,  physically  and 
mentally  in  such  an  unequal  contest.  But  they  had 
got  hold  of  the  wrong  man;  I  was  not  so  easily  to  be 
disposed  of.  When  I  found  that  these  traitors,  after 
having  signed  contracts,  after  having  urged  and  helped 
me  on  to  expend  mine  and  my  friends'  money,  after 
having  induced  me  to  labor  almost  day  and  night  for 
several  years,  which  I  did  with  zeal  and  enthusiasm  — 
I  say,  when  I  found  that  they  were  determined  to  rob 
me  of  my  labors,  I  made  up  my  mind  that  they  should 
not  succeed  in  their  efforts.  I  was  determined  that  this 
base,  unscrupulous  and  mercenary  combination  should 
not  carry  out  its  purposes,  and  made  a  sacred  vow  that 
I  would  finish  this  work  if  I  had  to  devote  the  whole 
balance  of  my  life  to  it,  and  defend  my  rights  as  long 
as  the  breath  of  life  was  hi  me." 


ADOLPH   SUTRO  285 

But  he  did  not  stop  here.  While  he  was  about  it 
he  determined  to  become  aggressive,  as  well  as  de- 
fensive. He  took  the  war  right  into  their  own  camp 
and  attacked  them  where  he  knew  they  would  feel  it 
worse  than  anywhere  else,  viz.,  their  pockets.  He 
exposed  what  every  miner  present  knew  full  well,  • — 
their  nefarious  business  methods,  as  well  as  their 
absolutely  dishonest  and  wicked  gambling  system,  and 
the  amazed  miners  listened  as  he  unfolded  in  clearest 
English  plots  and  schemes  that,  as  a  rule,  were  never 
referred  to,  save  in  whispered  tones.  Here  is  a  small 
part  of  this  expose. 

"  There  is  still  another  way  by  which  you  are  vic- 
timized. Supposing  the  superintendent  and  foreman 
of  a  mine  are  pliable  tools  in  the  hands  of  these  cormo- 
rants, how  easy  it  is,  when  a  rich  body  of  ore  is  dis- 
covered, to  keep  it  secret,  and  instead  of  taking  it  out 
start  the  miners  going  in  the  wrong  direction,  taking  out 
inferior  ore  or  bed-rock,  sending  it  to  the  mills,  in- 
volving the  mine  in  debt,  necessitating  assessments, 
and  thus  depreciating  the  stock.  And  how  simple  is  it 
for  the  ring  to  gobble  it  all  up  again  quietly,  while  it  is 
down,  and  after  a  large  amount  of  it  is  secured,  to  set 
all  the  men  to  work  that  can  find  room  and  take  out 
the  good  ore,  make  a  great  noise  over  it,  declare  large 
dividends,  send  up  the  stock,  and  then  quietly  sell  out 
and  pocket  a  million  or  so. 

"  How  many  of  you  have  been  bitten  in  this  manner  ? 
What  show  have  you  when  the  cards  are  thus  stacked 
on  you  ?  Have  you  ever  seen  a  cat  play  with  a  mouse  ? 
It  lets  it  run  a  little  piece  and  then  catches  it  again, 


286  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

and  repeats  the  experiment  a  number  of  times,  to  its 
great  delight  and  amusement;  but  did  you  ever  know 
it  to  fail  that  the  cat  ate  up  the  mouse  in  the  long  run  ? 

"  A  few  of  you  make  a  good  strike  once  in  awhile 
by  sheer  accident;  that  keeps  up  the  excitement,  and 
so  you  keep  on  gambling  in  stocks,  pay  your  assessments, 
and  in  the  end  you  will  all  be  eaten  up  like  the  poor 
mouse.  There  is  no  guess-work  about  it;  it  is  a  sure 
thing." 

The  results  of  this  address  were  many.  It  gained 
for  him  the  confidence,  respect,  adherence  and  financial 
support  of  the  miners,  so  that  he  was  enabled  to  go  ahead 
on  the  work  in  a  modest  way,  regardless  of  the  so-called 
"  financiers."  It  naturally  gained  for  him  the  in- 
creased enmity  and  hostility  of  those  opposed  to  his 
projects,  and  he  was  startled  and  doubtless  somewhat 
alarmed,  soon  after,  to  receive  a  telegram  from  Wash- 
ington urging  him  to  hasten  there,  as  the  agents  of  the 
Bank  of  California  were  seeking  to  persuade  Congress 
to  repeal  the  bill  granting  certain  rights  and  concessions 
to  the  Tunnel  Company.  He  went  at  once,  and  there, 
as  elsewhere,  found  strong  men  ready  to  stand  behind 
him.  General  Blair,  of  Michigan,  in  the  House  of 
Representatives,  declared  that  a  representative  of  the 
Bank  of  California  "  took  me  in  his  buggy  and  carried 
me  to  his  crushing  mills,  and  showed  me  the  line  of  the 
new  railroad  he  was  building,  or  rather  had  got  the 
people  to  build  for  him.  He  took  me  to  his  mines,  to 
the  very  bottom  of  them,  showed  me  all  about  them,  and 
told  me  he  was  determined  this  Sutro  Tunnel  business 
should  be  stopped."  Then,  closing  his  speech,  he 


ADOLPH   SUTRO  287 

said:  "  Sir,  this  bank  has  waved  its  hand  over  the 
Comstock  lode  and  ordered  Sutro  away.  That  is  the 
whole  of  this  transaction,  as  it  seems  to  me." 

A  full  discussion  of  the  matter  in  Congress  led  to  the 
appointment  of  a  Commission.  Before  this  Commission, 
Mr.  Sutro  acted  as  his  own  lawyer,  examining  and 
cross-examining  witnesses,  and  more  than  holding  his 
own  against  the  clever  and  skillful  lawyer  sent  by  the 
Bank  of  California  to  harass  and  defeat  him. 

More  than  this,  it  showed  how  earnestly  he  had  gone 
to  work  thoroughly  to  master  the  subject  in  which  he 
was  interested.  The  opposition  had  the  superintendents 
of  two  of  their  mines  present,  and  they  sought  to 
confuse  the  Commission  and  Mr.  Sutro  with  their 
superior  knowledge.  But  they  had  misjudged  their 
man.  Sutro  proved  himself  to  be  a  thorough  engineer ; 
he  had  the  laws  of  force  and  motion  "at  his  finger 
ends;"  in  figures  his  calculations  were  accurate  and 
made  with  lightning-like  rapidity;  he  demonstrated  his 
familiarity  with  geology,  orology,  topography,  metal- 
lurgy, hydrostatics,  mechanics,  and  engineering,  and 
convinced  the  Commission  that  he  knew  more  about 
the  ventilation  and  drainage  of  mines  than  either  the 
theoretical  experts  or  the  "  practical  men."  The 
report  of  the  meetings  of  this  commission  is  fascinating 
in  the  extreme.  Every  page  shows  the  watchfulness, 
the  vigilance,  the  resourcefulness,  the  eternal  per- 
sistence of  this  man  of  new  and  large  ideas.  For  once 
money  could  not  purchase  mental  power  enough  to 
dominate  and  control.  This  one  man  was  more  than 
a  match  for  them  all. 


288 

The  whole  story  in  detail  should  be  told,  but  there 
is  not  a  tenth  part  room  in  this  book  for  that  purpose. 
The  enemies  of  the  Tunnel  were  indefatigable  and 
powerful.  It  seemed  as  if  they  could  never  be  defeated. 
They  bought  up  senators  and  representatives,  but  Mr. 
Sutro's  clear  course  had  won  him  so  many  friends  in 
Washington  that  when  these  hirelings  sought  to  intro- 
duce bills  that  would  nullify  his  work  for  the  Tunnel, 
they  invariably  detected  the  nefarious  plots,  and  suc- 
ceeded in  having  amendments  passed  to  these  bills 
providing  "  that  nothing  herein  shall  be  construed  to 
affect  the  rights  of  the  Sutro  Tunnel  Company." 

This  was  one  of  the  first  great  fights  by  an  individual 
against  corporate  greed  and  corruption.  Sutro's  was 
the  voice  of  common  humanity  against  the  man  who 
would  ride  upon  its  shoulders  and  exploit  it  for  his  own 
financial  advancement.  It  was  an  epoch-forming 
fight,  for  from  that  day  to  this,  more  earnestly  than 
ever  before,  graft,  greed,  corporate  selfishness  and 
corruption  have  been  attacked  and  punished.  The 
fight  is  not  yet  ended.  Many  a  year's  battles  are  yet 
to  be  fought,  but  each  year  the  common  people  are 
learning  more  and  more  about  their  "  inalienable 
rights,"  and  clear-eyed,  pure-souled  teachers,  prophets 
and  warriors  are  arising  from  their  ranks  to  educate, 
inspire,  and  battle  for  their  fellows.  For  his  work  in 
this  regard  on  the  Comstock,  Adolph  Sutro  deserves 
the  heartfelt  thanks  of  all  the  generations  that  will 
come  after  him  on  the  Pacific  Coast,  and  not  only  in 
this  limited  area,  but  throughout  the  world.  His  fight 
was  successful.  His  fearless  firmness  and  bulldog 


L 


ADOLPH   SUTRO  289 

persistence  ultimately  won.  "  He  fought  the  bank  to 
a  finish,"  —  as  a  Nevada  State  official  recently  ex- 
pressed it,  and  the  tunnel  was  finally  completed  in 
October,  1878.  Three  years  later  I  went  through  it, 
and  from  that  day  to  this  my  admiration  for  its  creator 
has  increased.  The  tunnel  is  ten  feet  high,  twelve 
feet  wide,  twenty  thousand  five  hundred  feet  long,  with 
north  and  south  branches  having  one  thousand  two 
hundred  feet  in  the  aggregate,  making  its  entire  length 
more  than  five  miles. 

And  there  is  one  important  thing  that  must  not 
be  forgotten.  Not  only  did  Mr.  Sutro  battle  for  his 
tunnel  in  Congress,  and  in  Virginia  City,  not  only  did 
he  meet  experts,  and  lawyers,  and  commissioners,  and 
politicians,  not  only  did  he  go  to  Europe  and  learn 
of  engineers  and  scientists  and  political  economists, 
not  only  did  he  finance  this  great  project  by  interesting 
the  capitalists  of  Europe  in  his  undertaking,  but, 
when  work  was  to  be  done  at  the  Tunnel  he  was  there, 
ready,  if  necessary,  to  do  his  share  side  by  side  with  the 
common  man.  As  Hittell  well  says:  "  As  a  pusher  of 
tunnel  construction  he  was  something  like  Charles 
Crocker  as  a  driver  of  railroad  building;  he  threw  off 
his  coat,  rolled  up  his  sleeves  and  took  right  hold, 
wherever  he  could  help,  encourage  or  hasten  the  work. 
He  did  not  hesitate  to  strip  and  go  to  the  front.  Flying 
dirt  and  smoke,  heat  and  foul  air,  dripping  slush  over- 
head and  sticky  mud  underfoot  had  no  terrors  for  him. 
He  went  in  with  the  grimy,  half-naked  miners;  and, 
while  he  was  with  them,  he  was  of  them  —  a  man  of 
immense  will  power,  of  extraordinary  executive  ability, 


290  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

the  right  sort  of  a  man  for  the  place  and  the  labor  while 
it  lasted." 

Soon  after  the  tunnel  was  completed  Mr.  Sutro 
disposed  of  his  interests  to  his  associates  and  retired 
to  San  Francisco.  He  arrived  at  a  time  of  great  de- 
pression. People  were  losing  faith  in  the  "  destiny  " 
of  the  city  by  the  Golden  Gate.  Mr.  Sutro  at  once 
gave  practical  evidence  of  his  state  of  mind.  He 
bought  land  by  the  hundreds,  nay  thousands  of  acres. 
He  purchased  the  place  now  known  as  Sutro  Heights 
and  the  region  overlooking  the  world-famous  Seal 
Rocks.  He  built  the  Cliff  House,  enlarged  the  old 
house  on  the  hill  and  made  it  most  homelike  and 
comfortable,  and  then  proceeded  to  fashion  the  garden 
that  has  added  to  his  fame  and  carried  the  name  of 
Sutro  Heights  to  the  ends  of  the  earth.  To  hold  the 
sand  from  blowing  to  and  fro,  and  thus  convert  it 
into  sites  for  future  homes,  he  introduced  the  Bermuda 
and  Bent  grasses,  and  planted  the  Sutro  Forest,  at  the 
same  time  collecting  the  great  Library  which  he  placed 
so  generously  at  the  disposal  of  students  of  every 
class,  character,  and  nationality.  Then  he  took  upon 
himself  the  leadership  in  the  great  fight  made  against 
the  Funding  Bill  of  the  Central  Pacific  Railway  by 
which  it  is  claimed  he  saved  to  the  people  of  the  United 
States  upwards  of  a  hundred  millions  of  dollars.  Next 
was  a  fight  for  a  five  cent  fare,  with  transfers,  for  the 
city  of  San  Francisco,  which  he  triumphantly  won. 
This  led  the  people  to  elect  him  to  the  office  of  mayor, 
which  office  he  honorably  filled  in  the  interests  of  all 
the  people. 


ADOLPH    SUTRO  291 

Thus  his  life  stands,  a  monument  of  pluck,  persever- 
ance, fighting  against  wrong,  upholding  the  cause  of 
the  people,  seeing  great  things,  dreaming  great  visions, 
accomplishing  great  things,  a  truly  heroic  character, 
one  whose  memory  true-hearted  men  and  women  will 
never  let  die. 


CHAPTER    XXVHI 

THE   FAR  SIGHTED  HERO   OF  THE   ORANGE   COLONY, 
JOHN  WESLEY   NORTH 

/"TAO  go  into  a  strange  country,  take  a  barren  and 
•*•  almost  useless  tract  of  land,  experiment  and  dis- 
cover new  methods  or  objects  of  agriculture  and  horti- 
culture and  in  less  than  forty  years  transform  the 
desert  into  one  of  the  richest  cities  —  per  capita  —  in 
the  world,  establishing  upon  a  firm  and  permanent 
foundation  a  new  industry,  is  an  achievement  sufficient 
to  justify  the  enrolment  of  any  man's  name  upon  the 
list  of  his  State's  or  nation's  heroes.  Such  a  man  was 
John  Wesley  North,  a  native  of  New  York  State, 
who,  on  March  17,  1870,  issued  a  circular  from  Knox- 
ville,  Tennessee,  where  he  then  resided,  entitled  A 
Colony  for  California. 

Before  I  proceed  to  give  the  history  of  the  develop- 
ment of  this  colony,  let  me  draw  a  rapid  picture  of  it 
as  it  appears  to-day,  —  in  the  year  1910.  Stand  with 
me  on  the  top  of  Mount  Rubidoux,  which  is  located  at 
the  western  boundary  of  Riverside.  We  reach  this 
summit  in  an  automobile,  up  a  specially  constructed 
road,  built  by  the  people  of  Riverside  and  Henry  E. 
Huntington,  the  railway  magnate.  It  is  one  of  the  best 
pieces  of  automobile  mountain-road  in  the  world. 
At  the  foot  of  the  mountain  is  the  ancient  Indian  trail, 


J.  W.  NORTH  293 

over  which  Indians  traveled  prior  to  the  advent  of  the 
Caucasian  race,  and  where,  later,  the  venerable  Junipero 
Serra  passed,  with  others  of  his  Franciscan  band,  as 
they  journeyed  from  San  Diego  to  the  Mission  of 
San  Gabriel  the  Archangel.  The  striking  cross,  near 
which  we  stand,  was  erected  as  a  memorial  to  the 
pioneer  Franciscan. 

Before  us,  reaching  for  miles  and  miles,  stretch  the 
orange  groves  of  the  city  of  Riverside,  and  the  thousands 
of  acres  of  the  rich  farming  land  of  the  Santa  Ana 
valley.  On  the  one  hand,  an  ocean  of  rich,  deep  green, 
tinged  with  the  vivid  gold  of  the  orange,  and  lashed 
into  sparkling  foam  with  the  exquisite  cream  of  the 
myriads  of  blossoms,  the  odor  from  which  rises  as 
sweet-smelling  incense  to  the  very  heavens.  On  the 
other,  the  many  varied  lighter  greens  of  the  fertile 
fields,  while  surrounding  all  as  a  massive  and  rugged 
frame  for  a  perfect  picture  are  the  majestic  mountains, 
with  their  snow-clad  summits  piercing  the  blue,  at 
altitudes  ranging  from  ten  to  thirteen  thousand  feet. 

Now  let  us  seek  to  obtain  a  more  intimate  view  of 
the  details.  The  municipal  limits  embrace  a  large 
proportion  of  the  orange  groves,  about  fifty-six  square 
miles  in  extent.  The  city  was  incorporated  hi  1883. 
Churches  and  schools  are  prominent,  there  being 
twenty-five  of  the  former  and  fifteen  of  the  latter,  be- 
sides a  kindergarten  and  a  good  business  college. 
Many  of  these  buildings  are  of  a  superior  order  of 
architecture  and  substantially  built.  The  striking 
building,  from  whose  tower  sweet  chimes  ascend,  is 
the  Glenwood  Mission  Hotel,  one  of  the  noted  hotel 


294  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

structures  of  the  world,  and  close  by  is  the  Carnegie 
Library,  in  similar  style  of  architecture.  In  the  near 
future  a  Federal  building  of  the  same  style,  to  cost 
one  hundred  and  ten  thousand  dollars,  will  be  erected 
opposite  to  it,  and  on  another  corner,  the  City  Hall. 
Not  far  away  is  the  new  Young  Men's  Christian  Asso- 
ciation building,  and  all  are  surrounded  by  elaborate 
grounds,  where  lawns  of  richest  emerald  vie  with  the 
varying  greens  of  the  tropical  shrubbery  to  delight 
the  eye  and  rest  the  senses. 

Railway  trains  of  three  great  transcontinental  sys- 
tems shuttle  back  and  forth  in  every  direction,  as  well 
as  electric  cars.  The  long  avenue  is  the  world- famed 
Magnolia  Avenue,  a  double  drive,  shaded  by  euca- 
lyptus, palm,  and  other  majestic  trees,  and  extend- 
ing for  miles  through  the  orange  groves.  On  this 
avenue,  about  six  miles  from  the  civic  centre,  is  Sher- 
man Institute,  the  government  Indian  school  —  the 
largest  in  the  United  States.  Here,  many  hundreds  of 
the  Indian  youth  of  both  sexes  are  being  educated, 
and  Sherman  is  to  the  West  what  Carlisle  is  to  the  East. 

Near  by  is  the  newer  Victoria  Avenue,  equally 
beautiful,  also  a  double  drive,  with  its  surrounding 
groves  and  cultivated  lands.  Winding  around  from 
the  mountains  to  the  Pacific  is  the  Santa  Ana  River, 
from  which  is  drawn,  in  numerous  radiating  canals, 
the  life-giving  water,  without  which,  in  a  short  period 
of  time,  all  these  richly  cultivated  acres  would  revert 
to  primeval  desert. 

The  population  of  this  city  is  in  the  neighborhood 
of  fifteen  thousand  people.  Its  assessed  valuation  is 


J.  W.  NORTH  295 

about  twelve  million  dollars.  In  the  orange  season 
of  1908-1909,  it  shipped  nearly  six  thousand  car-loads 
of  oranges  and  lemons,  which  brought  back  to  the  pro- 
ducers three  million  dollars.  These  people,  both  in  the 
city  and  country,  are  so  averse  to  the  saloon,  that  for 
many  years  there  has  not  been  a  known  liquor- shop, 
and  the  orderly  character  of  the  city,  and  its  small 
criminal  business  in  the  Superior  Court  of  the  county, 
is  proof  of  the  wisdom  of  their  action  in  thus  banishing 
the  saloon  from  their  borders. 

The  domestic  water  supply  of  the  city  is  secured  from 
artesian  wells,  supplied  to  the  consumer  under  heavy 
pressure,  and  the  canals  of  two  great  systems  supply 
the  irrigation  water  for  the  orange  groves. 

For  years  the  city  operated  its  own  electric  light  and 
power  plant  by  water  power,  but  a  short  time  ago  it 
sold  forty  thousand  dollars'  worth  of  four  per  cent, 
bonds  at  a  premium,  with  which  it  put  in  a  new  steam 
plant  to  supplement  the  water-operated  plant. 

This,  in  simplest  outline,  is  the  city  that  sprang  from 
the  modest  circular,  issued  by  Judge  North,  in  1870. 
Part  of  this  circular  read  as  follows  :  "  Appreciating 
the  advantages  of  associative  settlement,  we  aim  to 
secure  at  least  one  hundred  good  families  who  can 
invest  one  thousand  dollars  each  in  the  purchase  of 
land;  while  at  the  same  time  we  invite  all  good, 
industrious  people  to  join  us  who  can,  by  investing 
a  smaller  amount,  contribute  in  any  degree  to  the 
general  prosperity."  The  advantage  of  co-operative 
over  individual  settlement  was  thus  forcefully  ex- 
pressed. "  Experience  in  the  West  has  demonstrated 


296  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

that  one  hundred  dollars  invested  in  a  colony  is  worth 
one  thousand  dollars  invested  in  an  isolated  locality." 
The  circular  also  stated: 

"  We  do  not  expect  to  buy  as  much  land  for  the 
same  amount  of  money  in  Southern  California  as  we 
could  obtain  in  the  remote  parts  of  Colorado  or  Wy- 
oming ;  but  we  expect  it  will  be  worth  more  in  proportion 
to  cost  than  any  other  land  we  could  purchase  in  the 
United  States. 

"  We  expect  to  have  schools,  churches,  lyceum, 
public  library,  reading-room,  etc.,  at  a  very  early 
date,  and  we  invite  such  people  to  join  our  colony  as  will 
esteem  it  a  privilege  to  build  them."  . 

In  the  summer  of  1870,  Judge  North,  together  with 
Dr.  James  P.  Greves  of  Marshall,  Michigan,  Judge 
E.  G.  Brown  of  Belle  Plaine,  Iowa,  and  other  gentlemen 
interested  in  the  proposed  colony,  visited  Southern 
California  and  examined  various  locations  offered  as  the 
site  for  the  proposed  colony.  San  Bernardino  County 
was  not  then  considered  as  possessing  many  attractions 
to  settlers.  It  was  the  largest  county  in  the  State,  con- 
taining over  twenty-three  thousand  square  miles,  and 
contained  but  one  town,  San  Bernardino,  which  was  the 
county  seat  and  was  but  little  more  than  a  village. 
That  which  is  now  Riverside  was  then  included  within 
the  limits  of  San  Bernardino  County,  but  the  entire 
county  did  not  contain  more  than  a  fraction  of  the 
population,  or  of  the  assessed  valuation,  now  contained 
within  the  municipal  limits  of  the  city  of  Riverside. 
There  was  no  railroad  within  four  hundred  miles  of 
San  Bernardino,  except  a  short  road  leading  from  Los 


J.  W.  NORTH  297 

Angeles  to  San  Pedro,  and  practically  all  the  travel 
to  San  Bernardino  County  was  by  steamer  from  San 
Francisco  to  San  Pedro,  and  by  team  from  Los  Angeles 
to  San  Bernardino.  The  chief  business  of  the  county 
was  the  raising  of  sheep  and  cattle,  and  such  general 
farming  as  provided  for  the  necessities  of  the  settlers 
themselves. 

The  Riverside  plain  was  then  a  dry,  uncultivated 
mesa,  which  had  never  seen  a  civilized  habitation,  nor 
been  disturbed  by  the  hand  of  man.  Over  it  ranged 
herds  of  cattle,  and  its  sole  product  was  the  natural 
growth  of  alfilerilla  upon  which  the  stock  fed.  In  ap- 
pearance it  was  much  like  the  great  stretches  of  desert 
the  transcontinental  traveler  sees  in  passing  through 
Arizona.  The  lands  had  a  valuation  of  seventy-five 
cents  an  acre,  and  the  Mexican  who  owned  them 
laughed  in  his  sleeve  at  Judge  North's  folly  in  purchas- 
ing them,  for  the  Southern  California  Colony  Asso- 
ciation, at  two  dollars  and  a  half  and  three  dollars  and 
a  half  an  acre,  while  he  pocketed  his  receipts  with  de- 
light. 

And  certainly  it  required  the  greatest  faith,  the 
clearest  ideas,  and  a  large  amount  of  real  moral  her- 
oism to  induce  scores  of 'people  to  leave  their  Eastern 
homes,  take  the  long  transcontinental  journey  —  it 
was  not  as  easy  nor  as  cheap  then,  as  now  —  and 
settle  on  this  barren  land.  What  if  the  plan  should 
fail?  What  if  the  pessimistic  prophecies  of  those  who 
had  owned  the  land  for  three-quarters  of  a  century  did 
come  true  ?  It  is  easy  enough  now  to  see  that  the  colo- 
nists were  acting  wisely,  —  wiser  even  than  they  knew,  — 


298  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

but  it  was  not  clear  then,  save  to  the  one  or  two  brave 
and  fearless  souls,  whose  courage,  enthusiasm,  brains, 
foresight  and  practical  common  sense  had  to  keep  the 
rest  in  countenance  while  the  experimenting  was  still 
going  on,  and  the  results  were  somewhat  in  doubt. 

Rightly  to  understand  the  success  of  Riverside,  it  is 
essential  that  we  grasp  at  least  a  reasonably  satisfactory 
idea  of  the  character  and  personality  of  Judge  North, 
and  of  the  life  behind  this  new  experience,  that  led  so 
many  people,  of  such  a  superior  order,  to  throw  in  their 
fortunes  with  him. 

His  parents  were  old-fashioned  Methodists,  who 
lived  on  a  farm,  and  who  brought  up  their  boy  — 
named  after  the  great  founder  of  Methodism,  John 
Wesley  —  in  the  strictest  and  most  orthodox  fashion. 
He  worked  hard  as  a  farm  hand  for  nine  months  in  the 
year,  and  the  other  three  he  spent  in  the  district  school. 

He  began  to  teach  school  himself  at  fourteen,  and 
at  sixteen  he  entered  the  Wesleyan  University,  at 
Middletown,  Connecticut.  Before  he  had  reached  the 
years  of  manhood,  his  soul  was  fired  with  the  wrongs  of 
the  helpless  slave,  and  he  took  their  cause  upon  his  heart 
and  tongue  with  all  the  courage,  fervor  and  intensity 
of  his  strong  nature.  He  allTed  himself  with  the  two 
Tappans  (Arthur  and  Lewis),  H.  B.  Stanton,  William 
Goodell,  William  Lloyd  Garrison,  Gerritt  Smith, 
Samuel  J.  May,  and  the  good  Quaker  poet,  John  G. 
Whittier.  He  lectured  in  every  town  (save  one)  in 
Connecticut,  going  to  and  fro  as  a  flaming  brand, 
debating  the  question  with  any  and  all  who  disputed 
his  facts  or  opposed  his  conclusions. 


J.  W.  NORTH  299 

When  he  was  thirty  years  old  he  entered  the  legal 
profession,  but  his  nature  was  not  suited  to  monotony 
of  office  routine.  He  was  essentially  a  pioneer,  and 
in  1849,  tne  yea?"  after  his  marriage,  he  took  his  young 
wife  with  him  and  settled  at  the  Falls  of  St.  Anthony, 
in  the  territory  of  Minnesota.  From  his  cabin  on 
Hennepin  Island,  he  saw  the  first  house  erected  on  the 
site  where  now  stands  the  wonderful  city  of  Minneapo- 
lis. St.  Anthony  (now  a  part  of  Minneapolis),  soon 
after  his  arrival,  was  a  prosperous  town  of  some  three 
thousand  inhabitants.  Here  North  gained  a  good  repu- 
tation and  excellent  practice  as  a  lawyer,  but  he  was 
not  content  long.  With  a  few  others  he  moved  to  a 
location  sixty  miles  south,  and  founded  the  town  of 
Fairbault,  and,  as  soon  as  the  mills,  etc.,  were  well 
at  work,  he  sold  out,  moved  again,  and  this  time,  un- 
aided and  alone,  founded  what  is  now  the  prosperous 
city  of  Northfield. 

So  far,  everything  had  gone  well  with  him;  what- 
ever his  hand  touched  seemed  bound  to  succeed.  But 
now  came  adversity.  The  financial  panic  of  1857 
swept  over  the  whole  country.  The  Minnesota  boom 
fell  as  flat,  as,  twenty  years  later,  did  that  of  Southern 
California.  Town  lots  were  valueless,  for,  with  the 
absence  of  ready  money,  immigration  into  the  country 
practically  ceased.  From  being  accounted  a  rich  man, 
Judge  North  found  it  difficult  to  pay  his  debts,  but 
before  he  left  Northfield  every  obligation  was  met, 
though  to  do  this  meant  the  sacrifice  of  all  the  property 
he  held. 

He  was   an   enthusiastic   Republican   and  entered 


300  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

heartily  into  the  Fr&nont  and  the  Lincoln  campaigns. 
His  fierce  anti-slavery  principles,  his  absolute  famil- 
iarity with  the  subject,  gained  in  his  earlier  years  while 
lecturing,  and  his  marvellous  power  as  a  debater,  made 
him  both  hated,  feared  and  respected  by  his  opponents, 
and  almost  adored  by  his  followers.  He  was  made 
chairman  of  the  Minnesota  delegation  to  the  Republican 
Convention  of  1860  that  nominated  Lincoln,  and  was 
one  of  the  notifying  committee.  When  Lincoln  was 
elected,  he  appointed  Judge  North  to  the  position  of 
surveyor-general  of  the  Territory  of  Nevada,  then  in 
the  very  whirl  of  the  excitement  consequent  upon  the 
discovery  of  the  Comstock  lode.  With  the  remarkable 
adaptability  he  afterwards  displayed  in  such  wonderful 
degree,  he  soon  erected  a  stamp  mill,  and  then,  when 
his  office  was  abolished,  he  returned  to  the  practice  of 
law,  until  the  Bar  of  the  territory  recommended  him 
to  a  Judgeship  of  the  Supreme  Court,  to  which  Presi- 
dent Lincoln  appointed  him.  This  office  he  held  until 
Nevada  became  a  State.  He  was  also  president  of  the 
first  Constitutional  Convention  of  Nevada. 

Then,  at  the  close  of  the  war,  in  1865,  his  restless 
energies  sent  him  down  into  the  South  to  help  in  the 
work  of  reconstruction.  He  believed  that  Northern  ideas 
and  Northern  capital  would  aid  the  South  materially, 
and  he  had  some  of  both,  for  his  life  and  work  in 
Nevada  had  been  remunerative.  February,  1866,  there- 
fore, found  him  at  Knoxville,  Tennessee,  owner  of  an 
iron  foundry  and  machine  shop.  He  knew  nothing  of 
the  business,  but  that  was  no  real  difficulty,  for  he  soon 
learned  it.  One  thing,  however,  he  could  not  learn,  — 


J.  W.  NORTH  301 

and  that  was  to  keep  his  Northern  tongue  from  ex- 
pressing his  Northern  ideas.  This  to  the  Tennesseans 
was  so  objectionable  that  they  not  only  made  living 
with  them  unpleasant,  but  they  added  t9  the  obstacles 
which  the  whole  South  was  suffering  from,  as  the  imme- 
diate result  of  the  war,  and  he  was  finally  compelled,  by 
the  loss  of  all  his  capital,  to  abandon  the  enterprise  and 
look  elsewhere. 

It  was  at  this  time  that  he  issued  his  famous  Southern 
California  Colony  circular.  He  had  never  been  in 
Southern  California,  but  had  read  much  about  it,  had 
talked  about  it  with  Governor  Fre'mont  and  others 
familiar  with  its  climatic  charms  and  horticultural 
possibilities. 

From  what  has  already  been  shown  of  Judge  North's 
career  and  character,  the  reader  can  now  understand 
how  he  was  able  to  secure  such  a  high  class  of  settlers 
to  go  with  him  into  a  country  not  one  of  them  knew 
anything  about.  The  replies  were  numerous  and 
speedy,  and  that  same  year  saw  him  in  San  Francisco, 
seeking  to  engage  capital  to  carry  on  his  new  enter- 
prise. His  plan  was  to  buy  a  large  tract,  divide  it 
into  blocks  of  two  and  a  half  acres,  and  farm  lots  of 
twenty  acres,  and  then  sell,  with  the  right  to  water 
for  irrigation  from  the  ditches  to  be  constructed  by 
the  owners.  Even  his  own  friends  thought  the  plan 
chimerical,  and,  while  not  openly  opposing  it,  fhey  did 
nothing  to  help  it  along.  Yet  with  faith  unbounded, 
the  indefatigable  and  optimistic  pioneer  camped  on  the 
trail  of  the  capitalists,  until  —  possibly  to  get  rid  of 
him  and  his  persistency  —  the  Hon.  Charles  N.  Felton 


302  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

agreed  to  furnish  the  money  to  buy  the  land  and  put 
in  the  irrigation  canals.  Full  of  joy,  he  started  for 
Southern  California,  speedily  investigated  and  decided 
upon  the  purchase  of  portions  of  the  Jurupa  Rancho 
and  Rubidoux  Rancho.  These  comprised  the  original 
Riverside  colony,  but  in  later  years  the  bounds  of 
the  city  have  extended  far  beyond  these  limits. 
Riverside  was  laid  out  and  surveyed  and  was 
then  known  as  Jurupa,1  a  name  soon  changed, 
however,  to  Riverside,  as  more  euphonious  and 
having  reference  to  the  Santa  Ana  River,  from  which 
the  water  supply  of  the  new  colony  was  derived. 
The  construction  of  an  irrigating  canal  was  immedi- 
ately begun,  and  was  completed  as  far  as  the  town 
site  hi  the  summer  of  1871. 

But  what  were  the  new  colonists  to  engage  in  as  a 
profitable  business  ?  Here  Judge  North's  foresight  and 
sagacity  stood  the  infant  settlement  in  good  stead. 
He  carefully  investigated  the  orange  orchards  of  the 
old  mission  San  Gabriel  and  the  asistencia  of  San 
Bernardino.  He  found  that  oranges  thrived  with  few 
setbacks,  and,  knowing  the  value  of  the  fruit,  saw 
a  large  commercial  future  for  it.  At  that  time  there 
was  so  small  a  demand  for  oranges,  nearly  all  large 
ranches  having  their  own  trees,  that  the  industry  may 
be  said  to  have  had  no  existence.  A  few  orange  trees 
had  been  raised  from  seed  (in  addition  to  those 
growing  at  the  Missions),  and  were  producing  fruit 

1  Jurupa  is  an  Indian  name,  and  was  given  to  the  "  seven 
leagues  of  grazing  land  ;  a  little  more."  granted  to  Juan  Bandini 
on  September  28,  1838,  by  Juan  B.  Alvarado,  Mexican  Governor 
of  California. 


J.  W.  NORTH  303 

in  a  few  isolated  localities,  usually  upon  low  lands  and 
not  upon  the  high  mesas,  the  irrigation  of  which  was 
more  difficult  and  costly,  and  which  have  since  proved 
the  best  for  orange-growing.  The  early  settlers  of 
Riverside  met  with  many  discouragements.  They  were 
remote  from  markets  where  they  could  either  buy  or 
sell  to  advantage;  there  were  no  adequate  means  of 
communication  or  transportation,  and  the  country 
was  necessarily  of  slow  growth.  There  was  no  money 
to  be  had  upon  any  kind  of  security  or  at  any  kind  of 
interest.  Those  who  had  lived  longer  in  the  country, 
and  had  brought  into  bearing  the  few  seedling  trees 
referred  to,  insisted  that  the  enterprise  upon  the  River- 
side mesa  could  not  possibly  be  successful;  that  the 
mesa  land  was  not  fit  for  cultivation;  that  it  certainly 
would  not  produce  oranges;  that  even  if  orange  trees 
would  grow  upon  it,  they  would  not  bear  anything; 
and  that  even  if  they  should  bear,  the  hundreds  of 
acres,  which  it  was  then  expected  to  plant,  would  so 
overstock  the  market  that  oranges  would  not  sell  at 
any  price,  and  orange  groves  would  be  worthless. 

Under  these  discouragements  but  cheered  by  the 
clear  views  of  Judge  North,  the  handful  of  people  at 
Riverside  worked  steadily  on.  They  knew  nothing 
at  that  time  of  any  of  the  improved  or  budded  varieties 
of  oranges,  and  knew  of  no  way  to  produce  the  fruit 
except  by  bringing  the  seedling  trees  into  bearing. 
There  were  no  young  trees  in  nursery  nearer  than  Los 
Angeles,  and  a  few  were  brought  from  there  and 
planted.  By  far  the  greater  number,  however,  were 
raised  from  the  seed  at  Riverside.  Decayed  Tahiti 


3o4  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

oranges  were  purchased  at  San  Francisco  by  the  barrel 
and  shipped  to  Riverside,  where  the  seed  was  separated 
from  the  pulp  by  hand  and  planted  in  seed  beds,  finally 
making  nursery  and  orchard  trees. 

The  Australian  blue-gum,  or  eucalyptus,  was  then 
being  introduced  into  California,  and,  thinking  to  raise 
some  of  these  trees  for  the  use  of  the  settlement,  an  order 
was  sent  to  a  San  Francisco  seedman  for  five  pounds 
of  the  seed.  The  answer  was  returned  that  there  were 
not  five  pounds  of  the  seed  in  the  United  States,  but  that 
one  ounce  of  the  seed  would  be  sent  for  five  dollars. 
That  quantity  was  purchased,  and  from  this  ounce  of 
seed  the  first  eucalyptus  trees  of  the  colony  were  grown. 

It  was  not  known  at  that  time  that  a  seedling  lemon 
root  was  not  a  healthy  or  fit  root  for  any  citrus  fruit, 
and  great  quantities  of  lemon  seeds  were  planted  and 
seedling  lemon  trees  raised.  These  were  found,  after 
coming  into  bearing,  to  be  so  inferior  and  unhealthy 
that  they  were  finally  cut  down  and  destroyed.  The 
China  lemon  also,  a  very  inferior  variety,  was  raised 
from  cuttings,  making  a  tree  or  bush  so  wholly  useless 
that  it  also  was  destroyed.  Limes  were  raised  from 
seed,  and  many  extensive  lime  orchards  were  brought 
into  bearing,  only  to  find  the  fruit  unprofitable;  these, 
too,  in  turn  were  destroyed. 

Many  acres  of  raisin  vineyard  were  planted,  and 
were  so  successful  that  large  sums  were  realized  by  the 
settlers  from  the  raisins.  In  fact,  Riverside  laid  the 
foundation  for  the  raisin  industry  in  California.  In 
later  years,  however,  it  was  found  that  in  the  warmer 
valley  of  the  San  Joaquin,  where  the  nights  were  warm 


m 


i  lilllllllllill 

" 


UllftliJii  iJiiiiiiit    MM  iJltlJii       | 

•- 


PARENT  WASHINGTON  NAVEL  ORANGE  TREE,  COURT  OF  THE  GLEN- 
WOOD   MISSION    INN,   RIVERSIDE,   CAL. 

Transplanted  by  President  Roosevelt. 

Page  305 


J.  W.  NORTH  305 

and  the  grape  reached  its  maturity  much  earlier  than 
in  Riverside,  the  raisins  could  be  cured  before  the 
beginning  of  the  rainy  season.  Raisin  growers  found 
the  true  home  of  their  industry  in  that  region,  and  the 
Riverside  raisin  vineyards  were  almost  entirely  rooted 
out  and  replaced  with  more  profitable  fruit. 

In  the  early  seventies  occurred  an  incident  which 
created  slight  interest  at  the  time,  but  which  proved 
to  be  fraught  with  incalculable  good,  not  only  to 
Riverside,  but  to  the  entire  orange-growing  industry 
of  California.  This  was  the  receipt,  by  one  of  the 
settlers  at  Riverside,  from  a  friend  in  the  city  of  Wash- 
ington, of  two  orange  trees,  which  had  been  brought 
to  the  Agricultural  Department  from  the  city  of  Bahia 
in  Brazil.  These  were  of  the  variety  then  known  as  the 
Bahia  orange,  but  which  by  reason  of  its  peculiar 
appearance,  remarkable  success,  and  wide  propagation 
in  Riverside,  has  been  since  known  as  the  Riverside 
Navel  Orange.  Buds  were  taken  from  these  trees  and 
inserted  in  the  stocks  of  then  growing  orchards,  and  the 
variety  has  since  been  propagated  from  tree  to  tree  until 
it  is  the  best  known,  most  extensively  raised,  and  most 
profitable  variety  of  orange  produced  in  the  United 
States.  It  is  entirely  seedless,  and  can  only  be  propa- 
gated by  budding  or  grafting. 

Perhaps  the  greatest  discouragement  in  the  whole 
history  of  this  industry  was  that  arising  from  the  in- 
troduction and  ravages  of  those  small  insects  known  as 
the  red  scale,  and  the  white,  or  cottony  cushion  scale. 
These  small  insects  multiplied  so  rapidly,  and  their 
presence  upon  the  tree  and  effect  upon  the  fruit  was  so 


3o6  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

disastrous,  that  the  orange  growers  saw  ruin  staring 
them  in  the  face.  At  that  time,  however,  science  came 
to  their  aid.  Scientific  men  were  sent  to  remote  parts 
of  the  globe  in  search  of  insect  enemies  of  the  red  and 
white  scale.  Such  enemies  were  found,  were  brought 
from  Australia  in  small  numbers,  were  colonized  in 
the  infected  groves  and  orchards  of  Southern  California, 
and  their  energetic  and  faithful  work  has  proved  a 
great  protection  against  the  scale  insects. 

The  whole  growth  of  the  industry  which  has  made 
Riverside  famous  has  been  a  long  continued,  earnest 
and  persistent  struggle  to  produce  the  finest  fruit, 
to  produce  it  in  large  quantities,  to  seek  extended 
markets,  to  secure  paying  prices,  to  protect  those  mar- 
kets by  adequate  tariffs  from  foreign  competition,  and 
to  provide,  by  means  of  co-operative  packing  and  mar- 
keting associations  and  exchanges,  for  returning  to  the 
producer  the  largest  possible  share  of  the  proceeds. 
It  can  be  safely  said  that  no  industry  in  the  country 
affords  a  better  example  of  intelligent  and  thorough 
co-operation  and  complete  success. 

At  the  same  time  it  must  not  be  understood  that  the 
whole  project  was  carried  out  on  the  co-operative  basis, 
as  originally  planned  by  Judge  North.  The  initial 
expense  of  the  irrigation  works  was  so  great  that,  as 
we  have  seen,  a  private  company  was  compelled  to 
take  over  both  the  land  and  the  water.  It  spent  some 
fifty  thousand  dollars  on  the  first  canal,  and  then,  with 
water  actually  on  the  land,  sold  it  to  the  colonists  at 
twenty-five  dollars  an  acre.  This  included  the  right 
to  purchase  a  certain  amount  of  the  water,  at  a  small 


J.  W.  NORTH  307 

annual  charge,  which  originally  was  about  a  dollar 
an  acre.  As  the  demand  for  water  grew,  requiring  the 
enlargement  of  the  irrigation  facilities,  this  annual 
charge  grew  to  ten  dollars  an  acre.  But,  at  the  same 
time,  the  value  of  the  land  thus  irrigated  leaped  into 
figures  hitherto  undreamed  of.  In  a  few  years  the 
sheep  ranch  of  Jurupa,  still  unimproved,  save  for  the 
presence  of  the  water,  sold  for  from  three  to  five  hundred 
dollars  an  acre,  while  the  growing  orange  orchards 
could  not  be  purchased  for  less  than  one  to  two  thou- 
sand dollars  an  acre. 

Devoting  his  energies  unselfishly  and  energetically 
to  the  upbuilding  of  the  community,  Judge  North  was 
too  busy  helping  others  and  directing  •municipal  affairs 
to  become  a  money-maker.  He  who  founded  the 
colony,  and  started  the  enterprise,  had  every  oppor- 
tunity to  "  get  in  on  the  ground  floor  "  and  make  great 
wealth,  but  resolutely  turned  his  face  in  the  other  di- 
rection. He  had  learned  years  ago,  in  the  old  Methodist 
homestead,  —  and  his  many  years  of  association  with 
every  class  of  men  had  confirmed  the  truth  of  the  Christ 
statement,  —  that  "  Ye  cannot  serve  God  and  mam- 
mon." He  regarded  faithful  service  to  the  people  as 
service  to  God,  and  refused  to  be  a  money-getter  for 
himself.  Hence  in  none  of  his  ventures  did  he  reap  a 
large  pecuniary  reward.  When  he  left  Riverside  in  1880 
to  go  to  Fresno  County,  he  took  very  little  money  with 
him,  though  his  wisdom  and  foresight  had  enabled 
many  other  people  to  accumulate  competencies.  . 

In  the  later  years  of  his  life,  I  knew  him  well.  He 
had  seen  that  vast  areas  of  land  in  the  San  Joaquin 


3o8  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

Valley,  owing  to  its  longer  period  of  summer  heat,  were 
better  adapted  for  the  growth  and  curing  of  raisins 
than  was  Riverside.  Accordingly  he  had  established  a 
colony  there,  near  Fresno,  in  which  he  lived.  Just  as 
he  had  seen  Riverside  spring  into  a  prosperity  that  no 
necromancy  ever  surpassed,  so  he  saw  Oleander  and 
its  surrounding  colonies  become  one  of  the  greatest 
raisin-producing  centres  of  the  world. 

Could  he  not,  in  his  declining  years,  look  out  over 
the  battle-fields  of  his  life,  and  see  where  he  had 
grappled  with  the  forces  of  nature,  and  conquered  and 
subdued  them  for  man's  benefit?  Could  he  not  see 
where  he  had  met  an  army  of  his  fellows,  grappled 
with  their  prejudices,  their  ignorance,  their  pessimism, 
their  indifference,  and  routed  these  evils,  and  then,  by 
the  clear  light  of  his  own  practical  wisdom,  steady 
foresight  and  boundless  enthusiasm,  guided  his  en- 
lightened friends  into  prosperity,  happiness,  content? 
As  he  faced  the  setting  sun,  and  its  beams  kissed  the 
hoary  locks  of  his  honored  old  age,  he  entered  upon 
his  new  adventure,  fearless  and  unafraid,  as  he  had 
worked  on  earth,  as  true  and  brave  a  hero  as  ever  re- 
ceived the  plaudits  of  his  fellow  men. 


CHAPTER   XXIX 

THE    OUTSPOKEN    HERO    OF  THE   PUBLIC    SERVICE, 
J.    W.    POWELL 

TV/TUCH  is  said  and  written  about  the  veniality  of 
•*- *  A  men  in  high  official  positions,  yet  there  are  many 
heroes  of  truth  and  honor  among  them,  and  there  is  no 
doubt  but  that  the  great  mass,  both  of  the  superior 
officials  and  the  rank  and  file,  are  honest,  true  and 
patriotic.  Once  in  a  while,  however,  public  officials 
are  brought  face  to  face  with  large  temptations,  and, 
if  there  is  promise  of  financial  profit  without  fear  of 
detection  or  any  great  loss  of  self-respect,  there  is 
reason  to  fear  that  too  many  yield  their  consciences 
and  accept  the  emolument.  To  their  honor,  also,  be 
it  said  with  gladness,  there  are  those  to  whom  such 
temptations  have  no  power.  Such  an  one  was  Major 
John  Wesley  Powell,  the  organizer  and  director  of  those 
two  great  branches  of  the  scientific  work  of  our  United 
States  government,  viz.,  the  Geological  Survey  and  the 
Bureau  of  American  Ethnology.  While  Major  Powell 
was  not  a  Californian,  he  was  essentially  Western 
in  his  spirit  and  methods,  and  as  this  event  transpired 
in  California,  and  pertained  as  much  to  this  State  as 
almost  any  other,  it  seems  appropriate  that  it  should 
find  place  in  this  volume. 
To  those  of  this  and  succeeding  generations  who  are 


3io  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

familiar  with  the  gigantic  irrigation  schemes  of  the 
United  States  Reclamation  Service,  and  the  wonderful 
constructive  work  they  have  engineered  and  carried 
through,  it  will  seem  almost  impossible  to  realize  that 
it  is  only  within  a  couple  of  decades  that  this  marvelous 
reclamation  work  has  been  accomplished. 

The  active  propaganda  of  the  benefits  of  irrigation 
had  already  been  taken  up,  as  elsewhere  related  in 
these  pages,  by  Mr.  William  E.  Smythe  and  others. 
These  men  were  conscientiously  working  for  a  desirable 
end,  and  honestly  seeking  to  improve  the  condition 
of  the  common  man,  but  the  land  speculators  were 
carefully  watching  their  actions,  and  preparing  to 
use  their  honest  enthusiasm  in  innocently  furthering 
plans  by  which  they  could  financially  profit  in  a  most 
extravagant  manner.  Major  Powell  believed  that 
these  plans  depended  entirely  upon  blinding  the  peo- 
ple as  a  whole,  and  the  national  legislators  espe- 
cially, to  the  available  amount  of  water  for  irrigation 
purposes.  Through  extensive  researches  conducted 
under  Major  Powell  by  the  experts  of  the  United  States 
Geological  Survey,  —  men  of  trained  observation  and 
scientific  deduction,  —  he  had  come  to  the  conclusion 
that  while  immense  areas  of  the  arid  lands  could  be 
reclaimed,  there  was  only  a  certain  amount  of  water, 
under  any  circumstances  and  after  the  most  rigid  con- 
servation, available  for  this  purpose.  He  saw  that 
immense  tracts  of  land,  in  the  aggregate  amounting  to 
hundreds  of  millions  of  acres,  had  already  passed  from 
the  government  into  the  hands  of  private  (or  cor- 
porate) parties,  who,  naturally,  would  wish  to  sell 


J.  W.  POWELL  311 

this  land,  when  the  time  arrived,  at  as  large  a  price 
as  possible.  He  also  saw  that,  with  the  limited  available 
water  supply,  there  was  not  enough  water  to  irrigate 
these  private  lands  and  at  the  same  time  have  water 
sufficient  to  irrigate  the  arid  lands  that  still  remained 
in  the  government's  possession,  and  which,  alone,  were 
open  to  homesteading  or  other  preemption  by  the 
common  people  for  actual  occupancy. 

He  saw,  therefore,  that  if  the  national  government 
could  be  induced  to  spend  millions  upon  millions  of 
dollars  for  the  building  of  immense  dams,  securing 
all  the  water  and  snow-fall  of  vast  localities,  instituting 
reservoir  systems  and  conservation  plans  over  immense 
areas,  constructing  hundreds  of  miles  of  canals  and 
laterals  for  the  supply  and  distribution  of  the  life- 
giving  fluid  to  the  arid  lands,  and  that  if  the  great  land 
speculators  could  then  control  this  irrigation  and  con- 
servation work  so  that  the  water  could  be  diverted 
upon  their  lands  instead  of  upon  the  arid  govern- 
ment lands,  the  former  would  be  marvelously  en- 
hanced in  value,  while  the  latter  would  be  left  in  their 
original  barren  and  almost  valueless  condition. 

Then,  with  prophetic  eye,  this  servant  of  the  people 
looked  into  the  future.  He  saw,  what  these  conscience- 
less speculators  also  saw,  that  the  population  of  the 
United  States  was  rapidly  increasing  and  that  in  a 
comparatively  short  space  of  time  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands of  families  of  financially  poor  people  would  be 
seeking  farms  for  homes.  But  while  financially  poor, 
he  knew  that  the  majority  of  these  seekers  were  rich 
in  energy,  rich  in  industry,  rich  in  morality,  rich  in  all 


3i2  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

the  virtues  that  go  to  make  up  the  very  best  parts  of  a 
great  nation's  citizenship.  He  therefore  determined 
that  if  there  were  to  be  any  conflict  in  this  tremendous 
work  of  conservation  and  irrigation  (which  he  clearly 
saw  the  government  would  be  compelled  soon  to 
undertake  and  carry  to  a  completion  at  a  fabulous 
expenditure  of  money),  he  would  ally  himself  on  the 
side  of  the  poorer,  common  people,  rather  than  on 
the  side  of  the  land  speculators  who  wished  to  fur- 
ther exploit  the  common  people  to  their  own  enrich- 
ment. 

The  plan  of  the  speculators,  as  Major  Powell  under- 
stood it,  was  to  allow  the  honest  and  enthusiastic 
conservationists  and  irrigationists  to  go  ahead  in  their 
convention  soon  to  assemble  in  Los  Angeles  and  urge 
the  government  to  carry  out  their  plans,  while  they 
themselves  stood  aside  until  the  work  was  well  ad- 
vanced, then  they  intended  to  step  in  and  assume  control 
and  so  shape  legislation  that  they  could  divert  the  water 
thus  conserved,  at  the  expense  of  the  nation,  to  their 
own  lands,  and  to  their  own  vast  enrichment. 

It  appeared  that  their  only  hope  to  accomplish  this 
was  to  silence  Major  Powell.  They  knew  that  the 
enthusiastic  workers  for  irrigation  were  too  honest  to 
see  their  schemes,  and  not  politicians  enough  to  sus- 
pect anything,  or  circumvent  them  if  they  did,  but  they 
had  had  experience  enough  to  know  that  Major  Powell 
could  not  be  hoodwinked  or  blinded.  He  was  as  keen- 
eyed  to  detect  a  political  "  job,"  as  he  was  to  grasp 
a  scientific  principle.  They  therefore  determined  that 
there  was  but  one  thing  to  do,  and  that  was  to  bribe 


J.  W.  POWELL  313 

him.  How  should  this  be  done  and  by  whom?  An 
open  bribe  they  knew  would  be  scorned.  A  mere  sug- 
gestion that  he  cease  his  watchfulness  would  be  tread- 
ing upon  dangerous  ground.  They  knew  his  honor, 
they  knew  his  vigilance,  and  yet  they  thought  they 
could  "  reach  "  him,  as  they  had  done  many  a  public 
official  before.  Their  offer  would  have  to  be  a  sugar- 
coated  pill ;  they  would  have  to  wrap  the  alluring  sweet 
of  sophistry  around  the  bitter  dose  of  bribery  ere  they 
could  induce  Major  Powell  to  swallow  it.  Could  they 
do  it?  They  determined  to  try.  They  would  offer 
him,  at  a  low  price,  a  share  in  a  syndicate  they  had 
already  organized,  in  order  that  they  might  have  the  ad- 
vice and  counsel  of  his  farseeing  intellect.  Then,  once 
in  the  syndicate,  they  intended  to  prevail  upon  him,  not 
openly  to  further  their  plans,  but,  not  to  do  anything. 
He  was  simply  not  to  do,  to  remain  passive,  to  keep 
his  hands  off,  and  say  nothing.  They  would  shape 
matters  as  they  desired  them.  His  business  was  to  see 
that  all  the  available  water  supply  of  the  United  States 
was  conserved.  It  was  none  of  his  business  how  those 
waters  were  used,  or  where  they  went  to,  upon  whose 
lands  they  were  conveyed.  And  they  intimated  that, 
just  as  soon  as  the  work  was  begun,  and  legislation 
shaped  their  way,  that  they  —  the  syndicate  —  would 
—  if  he  desired  to  convert  his  holdings  into  cash  — 
repurchase  his  interests  at  a  price  that  would  net 
him  over  a  million  dollars.  The  one  thing  they  feared, 
however,  was  that  he  would  enlighten  the  world,  and 
the  legislators,  upon  this  matter  of  water  supply,  and 
thus  render  the  defeat  of  their  schemes  certain.  They 


3i4  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

particularly  wished  him  to  be  silent  on  this  point  at  the 
national  convention,  and  urged  his  absence. 

The  offer  was  made,  but  in  so  careful  and  subtle  a 
manner  that  even  Major  Powell's  clear  brain  did  not, 
at  first,  perceive  the  moral  delinquency  it  implied  on 
his  part.  Some  of  those  nearest  and  dearest  to  him, 
to  whom  he  communicated  the  offer,  and  his  rising 
scruples  and  suspicions  concerning  it,  ridiculed  the 
latter  and  urged  his  immediate  acceptance.  Here  was 
a  life's  competence;  men  of  high  position  and  who  were 
regarded  as  models  of  integrity  were  making  fortunes 
in  less  scrupulous  ways;  why  should  he  be  so  particular  ? 

Then,  in  telling  me  this  story  himself,  —  and  Major 
Powell  asserted  at  the  time  that  his  soul's  battle  had 
never  before  been  revealed  to  a  human  soul,  —  he 
said:  "  I  was  tempted  for  a  while  to  let  the  thing  go. 
I  wanted  to  do  the  best  I  could  for  my  friends  and 
family.  I  didn't  want  to  be  quixotic  and  tilt  at  a 
windmill.  I  didn't  want  to  hamper  my  future  work 
by  making  an  army  of  such  powerful  enemies,  but  what 
was  it  my  duty  to  God  and  the  people  to  do  ?  My 
men  were  working  up  in  the  Sierra  Santa  Monica, 
some  twenty  miles  from  Los  Angeles.  I  said  to  myself : 
'  I'll  go  up  there  and  leave  these  politicians  to  fight  it 
out  by  themselves.  I'll  neither  approve  nor  disapprove! ' 
I  went,  but  that  night  I  could  not  even  go  to  bed,  much 
less  sleep.  Conscience  and  brain  alike  were  extra 
alert.  Both  were  as  clear  as  was  the  California  sky 
above  me,  which  made  the  stars  seem  close  and  so 
penetrating  that  I  felt  they  were  peering  into  my 
very  soul,  and  their  purity  demanding  a  like  purity 


JOHN    W.    POWELL. 


Page  309 


OS  - 

w   r 

II 


J.  W.  POWELL  315 

of  me.  I  got  up  and  inarched  back  and  forth.  The 
sweat  poured  from  my  face  in  the  agony  I  suffered 
and  I  learned  to  believe  that  a  man  can  sweat 
blood  in  his  soul's  struggles.  But  I  could  not 
stifle  either  my  mind  or  my  conscience.  My  duty 
was  clear.  I  was  not  only  the  head  of  a  great 
government  department  to  do  my  scientific  work  and 
let  others  determine  what  the  outcome  of  it  should  be, 
but  I  was  there  as  the  representative  of  the  people,  — 
the  poor,  the  homeless,  the  struggling,  the  helpless,  — 
who  did  not  know,  and  could  not  know,  and  would  be 
helpless  even  if  they  did  know,  —  of  the  assault  that 
was  being  made  upon  the  land,  which,  in  reality, 
should  be  theirs.  I  could  not  stand  it  any  longer. 
Without  breakfast,  or  a  word  to  my  men,  I  hurried  down 
to  Los  Angeles,  and  kept  the  appointment  that  had  been 
made  me,  —  to  speak  on  this  subject  at  a  certain  hour. 
Those  who  had  approached  me  fully  expected  me  to 
avoid  the  dangerous  line  of  thought  I  had  suggested. 
But  —  you  know  all  the  rest." 

I  was  present  and  heard  his  address,  and  I  heard 
and  saw  the  hubbub  and  uproar  that  followed.  The 
good  men  and  true  of  the  convention  did  not  believe 
his  statements  —  and  the  conspirators  knew  they 
would  not  —  so  even  the  honest  and  unbribable  ele- 
ments of  the  convention  (which  were  in  a  large  majority) 
innocently  joined  the  scheming  minority  in  their  con- 
demnation. They  shouted  and  stormed  and  even  sought 
to  prevent  his  continuing  his  address;  for  a  time  it 
seemed  as  if  the  convention  had  become  a  howling 
mob,  showing  by  face,  gesture,  action  and  word  their 


316  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

desire  to  down  the  one-armed  man,  who,  now  that  his 
own  battle  of  soul  was  fought  and  won,  stood  calmly 
and  indifferently  facing  them,  as  long  before  he  had 
faced  the  armies  of  the  South,  and  the  dangers  of  the 
unknown  Grand  Canyon.  In  vain  the  chairman  bat- 
tered with  his  gavel.  For  a  long  time  uproar  reigned, 
but  finally  he  was  allowed  to  proceed,  and  he  said  his 
say.  During  the  remainder  of  the  convention  he  was 
openly  and  covertly  attacked.  His  ideas  were  denied 
and  ridiculed.  To  this  day  there  are  some  members  who 
honestly  believe  that  his  ideas  were  wrong.  Be  that 
as  it  may  Major  Powell  firmly  believed  them;  so  much 
so  that  he  deliberately  threw  away  the  equivalent  of  a 
million  dollars  in  defence  of  them.  His  expose  blocked 
the  plans  of  the  schemers.  They  were  silenced,  at 
least  for  the  time.  The  principles  laid  down  by  Major 
Powell  have  been  carried  out,  in  the  main,  and,  what- 
ever the  future  has  in  store,  he  kept  his  soul  pure. 
His  active  work  on  earth  is  ended,  and  he,  brave  war- 
rior for  the  highest  morality  in  public  life,  has  gone  to 
his  reward  in  the  wonderful  advancement  that  all 
souls  receive  when  they  are  victors  in  life's  conflicts. 


CHAPTER   XXX 

THE    PRACTICAL    HERO    OF  INVENTION,    ANDREW  SMITH 
HALLIDIE 

/"VNE  of  the  essential  features  of  the  California  spirit 
^-^  is  the  ability  to  think  for  oneself,  to  refuse  to  be 
held  by  the  thoughts  and  methods  of  the  past,  to  meet 
new  problems  in  new  ways.  This  spirit  was  well  exem- 
plified by  the  way  A.  S.  Hallidie,  of  San  Francisco, 
grappled  with  the  transportation  problem.  The  city 
of  the  Golden  Gate  is  a  very  hilly  city,  and  yet  some 
of  the  finest  building  sites  are  on  the  steep  slopes  or 
summits  of  these  hills.  Even  to-day,  when  millions  of 
dollars  have  been  spent  in  cutting  and  paving  streets 
on  these  hills,  it  would  be  almost  an  impossibility  to  use 
many  of  the  best  sites  if  there  were  no  cheap  and  easy 
means  of  public  transportation.  The  ordinary  horse- 
car  could  never  have  scaled  these  steep  grades,  and 
even  had  horses  been  found  capable  of  ascending  them, 
it  is  doubtful  whether  passengers  could  have  been  found 
brave  enough  to  risk  their  lives  in  making  the  descent. 
Something  had  to  be  invented  to  meet  the  necessity,  for, 
as  yet,  the  powers  of  electricity  were  not  applied  to  the 
street-car  as  they  are  to-day.  At  this  juncture  Mr. 
Andrew  Smith  Hallidie  turned  his  inventive  energies 
to  the  problem,  and  those  who  knew  him  realized  that 
it  was  as  good  as  settled,  for  both  he  and  his  father  were 
natural  inventors,  and  both  were  interested  in  the  solving 


3i8  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

of  just  such  problems.  As  early  as  1835  his  father  had 
patented  his  invention  of  making  ropes  and  cables 
from  iron  and  steel  wire,  and  in  1855,  when  Andrew 
himself  was  but  nineteen  years  old,  he  had  shown  his 
own  power  by  designing  and  constructing  an  aque- 
duct, suspended  on  a  wire,  with  a  span  of  two  hundred 
and  twenty  feet,  across  the  middle  fork  of  the  American 
River.  In  the  mines  there  was  a  growing  demand 
for  wire  rope,  and  Andrew  determined  to  supply  it. 
In  June,  1856,  he  extemporized  hand  machinery  for 
making  wire  rope,  and  produced  the  first  wire  cable 
made  on  the  Pacific  Coast.  The  following  year  he  es- 
tablished a  manufactory  for  wire  ropes  in  San  Fran- 
cisco. 

Then,  for  several  years,  he  built  wire  suspension 
bridges,  as  well  as  made  cables  for  use  in  the  mines,  — 
where  it  was  found  far  more  reliable  than  ordinary  rope 
to  haul  up  the  cars  loaded  with  ore  and  miners  from  the 
depths.  In  1867  he  took  out  a  patent  for  a  rigid  sus- 
pension bridge,  and  the  same  year  invented  and  put 
into  use  another  contrivance  for  conveying  freight  over 
a  mountainous  country  by  means  of  an  overhead  con- 
tinuous wire  rope.  This  was  soon  known  as  the  "  Hal- 
lidie  Rope- way,"  and  is  largely  in  use  throughout  the 
country.  By  its  means  timbers,  fuel,  tools,  provisions 
and  all  kinds  of  supplies  are  transported  to  the  mines, 
and  in  the  returning  cages  or  buckets  ore  is  sent  to  the 
mill.  Mr.  Hallidie's  genius  had  many  problems  to 
solve  in  making  this  rope- way  the  complete  and  satis- 
factory thing  it  is  to-day,  one  of  the  chief  of  which  was 
the  grip  pulley.  By  means  of  this  pulley,  —  which, 


ANDREW    SMITH    HALLIDIE        319 

as  its  name  implies,  grips  the  cable,  —  power  is  ap- 
plied to  move  the  cable,  and  then,  if  its  speed  becomes 
too  great,  the  same  power  becomes  a  brake  to  restrain 
it.  Another  important  feature  is  the  gearing,  which 
allows  the  heavy  loads  of  ore  descending  to  pull  up  the 
supplies,  etc.,  ascending,  in  this  way  utilizing  all  the 
natural  power  possible. 

One  of  the  longest  rope-ways  in  use  is  four  miles 
long,  between  stations  two  miles  apart.  At  Mineral 
King  the  stations  are  six  thousand  feet  apart,  and  the 
mine  is  one  thousand  nine  hundred  feet  above  the  mill. 
In  one  place  the  span  is  seven  hundred  feet  between 
posts,  and  the  cable  crosses  a  canyon  six  hundred  feet 
above  the  bottom. 

While  thus  busy  constructing  these  rope-ways,  Mr. 
Hallidie  was  daily  seeing  the  need  of  improved  street 
railway  transportation  in  San  Francisco.  Horse-cars 
were  in  use  up  some  of  the  lesser  inclines,  and  almost 
daily  his  heart  was  wrenched  by  witnessing  the  painful 
efforts  of  the  struggling  horses  to  drag  their  loaded  cars 
up  these  hills.  Accidents  happened  with  alarming 
frequency,  for  sometimes  the  horses  would  lose  their 
footing  and  the  brakes  being  unable  to  hold  the  load, 
the  cars  would  either  rush  forward  upon  them,  or  drag 
them  back  as  their  weight  took  them  to  the  foot  of  the 
hill.  But  an  endless  cable,  carrying  moving  cages  of 
rock,  in  the  country,  was  an  entirely  different  thing  from 
an  endless  cable,  carrying  moving  cars,  filled  with 
human  passengers,  suspended  in  the  streets  of  a  city 
The  feature  of  suspension  must  be  eliminated,  and  the 
principle  of  the  endless  wire  cable  applied  to  a  railway 


320  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

on  the  street  level.  It  was  in  1871  that  the  idea  was 
clear  to  Mr.  Hallidie  how  it  might  be  done.  A  model 
was  made  and  patented.  Then  came  the  long,  tedious, 
and  often  disheartening  time  spent  in  experimenting 
and  perfecting  his  invention.  Three  capitalists  in  San 
Francisco  generously  came  forward  and  supplied  the 
needed  funds  for  the  purpose,  by  subscribing  twenty- 
two  thousand  dollars  each,  and  in  two  years'  time,  a 
cable  was  successfully  laid  in  an  underground  conduit, 
propelled  by  powerful  machinery  at  a  fixed  station,  and 
street  cars  moved  by  it.  This  was  the  Clay  Street  Cable 
Railroad.  The  grips  are  quite  common  now,  but  they 
required  many  months  of  trying  experiment  before  they 
were  perfected.  It  is  no  light  strain  to  have  a  grip 
attached  to  a  street-car,  heavily  loaded  with  passengers, 
even  on  a  level  track,  much  less  up  a  steep  incline, 
suddenly  seize  a  moving  cable,  fasten  on  to  it,  and  thus 
overcome  the  inertia  and  take  the  car  along.  Grips 
used  to  break  and  cables  wear  out  with  alarming 
rapidity  before  the  present  method  was  adopted.  On 
August  i,  1873,  the  Clay  Street  Railway  was  set  in 
successful  operation,  and  at  once  demonstrated  a 
success.  The  Hallidie  method  became  known  and  was 
used  throughout  the  world.  It  worked  a  complete 
revolution  hi  street-car  service,  and  indeed  was  the 
most  important  of  all  inventions  applied  to  street 
transportation  until  the  electric  car  came  upon  the 
scene. 

When  Professor  Lowe  constructed  the  Mount  Lowe 
Railway,  the  question  arose  as  to  how  the  steep  sixty- 
two  per  cent,  grade  of  the  incline  should  be  overcome. 


ANDREW    SMITH    HALLIDIE         321 

Here  Mr.  Hallidie's  genius,  combined  with  that  of  Pro- 
fessor Lowe,  designed  the  balanced  cars  on  the  endless 
cable  and  the  grip  sheave,  with  its  seventy  jaws,  each  of 
which  automatically  seizes  the  cable  as  it  revolves. 
The  result  is  a  perfectly  successful  and  safe  device 
which  has  now  been  in  operation,  without  the  faintest 
suggestion  of  an  accident,  since  1893.  The  operation 
of  this  cable  incline  is  entirely  different  from  that  of 
a  cable  street  railway.  In  the  latter  the  cable  is  gripped 
from  the  car,  and  the  movement  of  the  car  depends 
upon  the  security  of  the  grip's  hold  upon  the  cable. 
On  the  Mount  Lowe  incline,  on  the  other  hand,  the 
cable  and  the  car  are  built  together,  —  the  one  firmly 
fastened  to  the  other;  the  machinery  above  merely 
moves  the  cable,  the  latter  taking  the  two  cars  along 
as  it  moves. 

As  Mr.  Hallidie's  invention  was  designed  to  meet 
peculiar  California  necessities,  and  it  is  in  most  suc- 
cessful operation,  with  a  variety  of  local  adaptations, 
in  the  State,  I  have  thus  preferred  to  take  and  use  it 
as  an  example  of  inventive  skill  used  for  the  benefit 
of  the  people,  rather  than  some  other  and  more  general 
application  of  inventive  power. 


CHAPTER  XXXI 

THE    INTREPID   HEROES    OF   A   GENTLE    SCIENCE,  JOHN 
GILL    LEMMON   AND   SARA   PLUMMER   LEMMON 

AT  first  thought,  there  might  not  appear  anything 
of  the  heroic  about  the  life  and  work  of  any 
botanist.  How  can  a  mere  gatherer  of  flowers  be  a 
hero? 

Yet  one  has  but  to  read  the  life  and  work  of  such 
men  as  Fremont  (who  did  not  despise  his  work  as  a 
botanist),  Douglas,  who  early  studied  California's 
trees  and  flowers  and  after  a  most  heroic  life  died  tragi- 
cally in  the  Hawaiian  Islands,  John  Muir,  whose 
studies  of  the  trees  and  flowers  of  the  high  Sierras 
often  led  him  into  great  danger,  and  many  others,  to 
realize  that  even  in  the  mere  gathering  of  plants  there 
may  be  a  high  purpose  which  can  be  carried  out  only 
by  a  truly  heroic  soul. 

Such  heroes  undoubtedly  were  John  Gill  Lemmon 
and  his  noble  wife,  formerly  Miss  Sara  A.  Plummer, 
whose  herbarium  in  Oakland,  California,  has  long 
been  the  Mecca  of  visiting  botanists  from  all  parts  of  the 
globe. 

Professor  John  Gill  Lemmon  first  saw  the  light  of 
day  in  a  large,  comfortable  log  cabin  in  the  forest- 
bordered  wilds  of  Lima,  Michigan,  January  2,  1832, 
and  was  carefully  reared  by  wise  parents.  In  time  he 


J.  G.  AND  SARA  P.  LEMMON        323 

was  sent  to  the  best  public  and  private  schools,  then 
to  the  Michigan  State  Normal  School,  from  whence, 
well  equipped  for  his  work  as  a  teacher,  he  went  forth, 
soon,  however,  to  be  made  superintendent  of  schools. 
His  ambition  not  yet  being  satisfied,  he  entered 
the  State  University  of  Michigan,  but  before  gradu- 
ation, stirred  by  the  deeply  patriotic  impulse  of 
a  true-hearted  man,  he  dropped  pen  and  books 
and  volunteered  for  three  years  or  as  long  as 
the  strife  should  last.  He  entered  the  Fourth 
Michigan  Cavalry  June  8,  1862,  and  served  with 
honor  in  thirty-six  engagements  hi  Kentucky, 
Tennessee,  Alabama  and  Georgia,  until  captured, 
August  26,  1864.  He  was  thrust  into  Andersonville 
and  Florence  prison-pens  and  kept  there  during  the 
last  six  months  of  the  war,  and  was  one  of  the  hundred 
and  thirty-five  who  could  stand  alone,  out  of  the  five 
thousand  prisoners,  when  release  came.  But  he  was 
almost  a  physical  wreck,  and  his  mother,  with  her 
family,  brought  him  to  California  in  1865,  with  the 
mournful  expectation  of  merely  making  his  few  last 
days  as  peaceful  and  comfortable  as  possible.  His 
home  was  made  in  a  little  cottage  in  Sierra  Valley,  and 
here  he  slowly  began  to  revive  to  an  interest  in  the 
things  of  this  life. 

One  day,  as  he  lay  in  the  shadow  of  his  cottage, 
scarcely  able  to  move,  he  saw  in  the  near  distance  an 
odd  little  clover.  Not  all  his  strenuous  experiences  in  the 
war,  and  the  cruel  hardships  of  his  prison  life  had  been 
able  to  kill  his  love  for  the  amiable  science  of  botany, 
and  the  sight  of  this  quaint  and  strange  clover  aroused 


324  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

afresh  in  his  soul  all  his  interest.  Slowly  he  rolled 
over  and  crept  towards  the  strange  flower.  He  gathered 
it  with  a  quickly  beating  heart,  for  he  had  never  seen 
just  such  a  clover  before.  Near  by  were  other  strange 
flowers,  and  his  delighted  eyes  feasted  upon  them 
as  he  eagerly  gathered  them  and  returned  to  his 
cot.  Then  he  plucked  up  strength  and  courage 
enough  to  write  to  good  Asa  Gray,  the  great  Har- 
vard botanist,  who  wrote  back:  "  You  have  discovered 
seven  new  plants  —  new  to  science.  Good !  Send  some 
more!  " 

This  letter  was  like  new  wine  to  the  worn  out 
man.  His  soul  revived  under  the  stimulus  of  the 
kindly  encouragement.  In  time  he  enlarged  the 
scope  of  his  daily  walks,  and  soon  was  able 
to  go  out  for  a  whole  day's  ramble.  He  found 
enough  new  specimens  to  keep  him  constantly  inter- 
ested, and  his  collection  of  California  flora  rapidly 
grew  in  size  and  importance.  Scarcely  a  month  passed 
without  his  contribution  of  some  valuable  addition 
to  the  knowledge  of  the  Eastern  and  European  botan- 
ists in  regard  to  the  flora  of  the  Golden  State. 

Though  never  again  to  be  the  strong  man  that,  in 
the  full  glory  of  youth,  had  taken  up  arms  for  the  good 
of  his  beloved  country,  he  recuperated  sufficiently  to 
feel  that  he  had  a  life's  work  ahead  of  him.  He  began 
systematically  to  explore,  not  only  California,  but  the 
adjoining  states  and  territories,  from  Alaska  down 
to  Old  Mexico,  and  as  far  east  as  the  western  base  of  the 
Rocky  Mountains. 

It  was  on  one  of  these  explorations,  nearly  twenty- 


J.  G.  AND  SARA  P.  LEMMON        325 

five  years  ago,  that  I  first  met  him,  and  was  immediately 
attracted  by  his  lovable,  gentle  nature.  How  fascinat- 
ing were  the  stories  of  his  experiences :  climbing  snowy 
mountains,  dodging  hostile  Indians,  camping  with 
friendly  ones,  sliding  down  canyon  precipices  where 
only  the  mountain  goat  had  hitherto  trailed,  sleeping 
beneath  the  giant  redwoods  and  sequoias,  scorched  on 
the  alkali  flats  of  the  below-sea-level  areas  of  our  west- 
ern deserts.  Pathos  and  comedy,  tragedy  and  humor 
rubbed  elbows  with  each  other  during  those  years  of 
happy  labor,  made  sweeter  and  more  precious  by  the 
companionship  and  dear  comradeship  of  his  wife.  It 
was  the  love  of  botany  and  nature  science  that  brought 
these  two  spirits  together,  and  they  were  married  in 
Oakland  in  1880,  after  an  acquaintance  of  four  years, 
during  which  they  were  fellow  members  of  a  botanical 
club  in  Santa  Barbara,  organized  by  Mr.  Lemmon. 

Henceforth  these  two  traveled  together.  Their 
wedding  journey  was  into  the  wilds  of  Arizona  and  New 
Mexico,  and  the  habit  once  formed  was  kept  up  through 
life.  Year  after  year  they  went,  with  their  ponies,  or 
wagon,  or  burros,  happy  in  themselves  and  in  their 
work. 

Nothing  in  the  floral  line  escaped  their  eager  search : 
cactuses  of  a  hundred  varieties,  yuccas  by  the  score, 
the  tiny  creeping  gilias,  and  the  giant  suaharos  and 
sequoias,  trailing  seaweeds,  floating  lilies,  and  the 
shrinking  orchids  of  the  dense  forests  where  sunlight 
seldom  enters.  Year  after  year  added  to  their  store 
of  plants  and  knowledge.  These  botanists  lived  with 
the  objects  of  their  study;  they  watched  them  grow 


326  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

from  seed,  slip  or  bud,  and  visited  them  again  and 
again  in  their  wild,  almost  inaccessible  natural  habitats, 
until  they  were  able  to  speak  of  them  with  authority. 
Every  new  trip  gave  them  new  triumphs  for  their 
flower-presses  laden  with  new  species  of  plants.  Each 
of  them,  husband  and  wife,  has  had  the  highest  honor 
accorded  them  that  can  befall  botanists,  viz.,  the 
dedication  of  a  new  genus  of  plants  to  them.  These 
are  known  throughout  the  world  as  the  Lemmonia  and 
Plummera.  For  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century  Mrs. 
Lemmon  took  her  water  colors  and  sketch  pad  along 
and  made  field  sketches,  in  color,  of  the  plants  in  their 
native  haunts. 

In  the  year  1881  Arizona  was  not  the  peaceable, 
quiet,  hospitable  country  it  now  is.  In  those  days 
Apache  raids  and  massacres  were  frequent.  Even  the 
most  hardened  Indian  campaigner  knew  that  an  order 
to  advance  into  the  Apache  country  meant  no  tender- 
foot's picnic,  and  yet,  in  this  year,  this  gentle-hearted 
student  of  the  plants,  accompanied  by  his  wife,  urged 
only  by  the  desire  to  hunt  down  the  so-called  "  Irish  " 
potato  in  its  native  habitat,  hitched  up  the  team  to  their 
camping  wagon,  and  aimed  right  for  the  Indian  region. 
Two  years  previously  Colonel  Charles  D.  Poston  had 
assured  them  that  he  was  confident  wild  potatoes  could 
be  found  in  Southern  Arizona.  With  eager  zeal  Pro- 
fessor Lemmon  and  his  wife  had  searched  for  two 
seasons,  but  in  vain,  and  now  they  were  going  to  try 
again.  They  arrived  at  Fort  Bowie,  in  the  famous 
Apache  Pass,  just  after  the  summer  rains  had  brought 
forth  a  most  abundant  and  interesting  flora,  but  their 


J.  G.  AND  SARA  P.  LEMMON        327 

hearts  were  bent  on  finding  potatoes,  so  they  pushed 
forward  into  the  Chiracahua  Mountains,  where  one 
of  the  most  feared  bands  of  Apaches  had  long  had  its 
stronghold.  When  every  one  else  was  fleeing  the 
country,  these  scientists  boldly  went,  with  sublime 
unconsciousness,  where  all  expected  they  would  meet 
their  death.  Instead  of  that  they  found  what  they  had 
so  eagerly  been  seeking  —  the  wild  potato.  But  here 
let  Professor  Lemmon  tell  the  story  himself. 

"  One  day  in  September,  while  searching  for  ferns 
in  the  clefts  of  one  of  the  highest  peaks  north  of  the 
Pass,  there  was  discovered,  under  a  tangle  of  prickly 
bushes  and  cacti,  a  solitary  little  plant  perceived  at 
first  glance  to  be  a  Solanum;  but  query :  Was  it  bulb- 
bearing?  Carefully  the  little  stranger  was  uprooted, 
when  lo,  a  tuber!  an  undoubted  representative  of  the 
true  potato  family. 

"  The  plant  proved  to  be  a  specimen  of  Solanum 
Jamesii,  of  Torrey.  Great  was  my  disappointment 
when,  after  diligent  search  day  after  day  in  that  lo- 
cality of  various  features  of  plain,  canyon,  and  peak, 
not  another  plant  was  to  be  detected.  Time  and  again 
the  little  scrap  of  a  plant  was  examined,  but  it  was  so 
meagre  and  dejected  by  age  that  it  had  but  few  char- 
acteristics which  reminded  one  of  the  rank  potato  vines 
of  our  gardens.  With  great  care  and  kindling  interest 
I  dissected  its  organs  and  compared  its  characters  with 
the  meagre  descriptions  at  hand.  How  much  more 
my  emotions  would  have  been  aroused,  had  I  then 
known  that  it  was  probable  that  from  this  very  species, 
rather  than  from  any  other  of  the  thirty-six  known,  our 


328  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

first  potatoes  sprung,  according  to  the  researches  and 
reasonings  of  Humboldt. 

"  We  were  prevented  from  making  a  thorough  ex- 
ploration of  the  southern  portion  of  the  Chiracahuas 
—  to  which  we  removed  in  September  —  by  the  rumors 
that  reached  us  day  by  day  of  Indian  outrages  in  the 
mountains  to  the  north  of  us;  culminating  at  last  in 
the  startling  intelligence  brought  us  by  a  friendly 
cowboy,  who  rode  all  night  to  warn  us,  that  Juh  and 
his  whole  band  of  Chiracahua  Apaches  had  broken 
out  of  the  San  Carlos  Reservation  at  four  o'clock  the 
morning  before,  and  were  fleeing  directly  towards 
their  old  haunts,  the  very  valley  in  which  we  were 
peacefully  botanizing. 

"  We  took  refuge  in  the  cabin  of  a  queer  old  hermit, 
Dr.  Monroe,  who  had  been  there  for  four  years,  and 
who  had  prepared  for  such  emergencies  by  digging  a 
tunnel  one  hundred  and  twenty  feet  long  through  the 
sharp  point  of  a  long  ridge  projecting  into  the  valley 
between  two  creeks.  Midway  of  the  ridge  the  tunnel 
was  constructed  with  a  double  elbow,  enlarged  to 
eight  feet  by  ten,  and  six  feet  high,  to  which  one  could 
retreat  with  his  supplies  and  weapons,  and  could  shoot 
out  towards  either  end  of  the  tunnel  at  his  foes  in  the 
light,  while  himself  shrouded  in  the  darkness  by  the 
elbow.  In  case  of  overpowering  numbers,  he  could 
light  a  fuse  leading  to  a  magazine  concealed  in  the 
cobbles  at  each  end  of  the  tunnel,  which,  when  ignited, 
must  blow  everything  to  atoms  in  the  vicinity. 

"  The  mouths  of  the  tunnel,  opening  out  on  the  sides 
of  the  ridge,  were  each  artfully  concealed  by  a  cabin 


J.  G.  AND  SARA  P.  LEMMON        329 

made  of  shakes  and  brush,  one  of  which  was  generously 
assigned  to  us.  While  we  were  there  for  eleven  days, 
in  momentary  expectation  of  attack,  Juh  and  his  band, 
split  up  into  squads  of  half  a  dozen  to  fifty  warriors, 
scoured  the  country,  torturing  and  killing  all  the  whites 
in  their  path. 

"  One  large  band  passed  along  by  the  mouth  of 
Rucker  Valley,  and  no  one  knows  why  they  did  not 
ascend  to  their  familiar  haunts,  as  there  was  not  the 
slightest  obstacle  to  such  a  course,  although  the  full- 
garrisoned  Fort  Bowie  was  but  forty  miles  away,  and 
the  Apaches  passed  near  it  on  the  way;  followed,  to 
be  sure,  two  days  later,  by  two  companies  of  well- 
mounted  cavalry,  majestically  marching  along  by  twos, 
accompanied  with  baggage  wagons  and  other  com- 
fortable military  equipage. 

"  In  October  we  returned  to  Oakland  to  pass  the 
winter  in  closet-work  over  our  varied  treasures  from 
Arizona.  Last  May  (1882)  we  again  joyfully  prepared 
our  simple  outfit  for  an  extended  exploration  of  the 
other  mountains  of  Southern  Arizona,  determined 
that  we  would  find  more  of  that  wild  potato  if  it  took  all 
summer  —  and  it  did." 

Professor  Lemmon  then  recounts  the  long  and  ardu- 
ous search  for  the  potato.  After  being  duly  settled  in  a 
tent  at  Fort  Huachuca,  kindly  provided  by  the  com- 
manding officer: 

"  Every  third  day,  equipped  with  flower  press, 
pick,  and  luncheon,  I  climbed  slowly  and  wearily,  as 
perforce  I  must,  over  one  ridge  after  another,  and  up 
to  spur  upon  spur  of  the  high  peaks;  hastily  culling 


33o  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

the  rare  flowers  and  ferns  by  the  way,  and  putting 
them,  carefully  displayed,  into  the  portable  press; 
taking  note  of  habitat  and  peculiarities  to  be  recorded 
on  return.  Generally  the  unseen  peril  of  rattlesnakes 
and  centipedes,  together  with  the  open  attacks  of  cacti 
and  yucca,  were  added  to  the  intense  heat  of  the  sun, 
jeopardizing  life  and  limb.  The  level  rays  of  sunset 
usually  found  me  at  the  top  of  a  mountain  ten  to  twenty 
miles  from  camp.  Fortunately  the  declivity  favored 
the  return  trip.  You  slid  perhaps  for  rods  at  a  plunge, 
down  with  splintered  shales  and  volcanic  cinders,  knee- 
deep,  to  a  bush-covered  landing,  where  you  must  pass 
along  the  side  of  the  mountain  until  another  shat- 
tered vertical  ledge  of  slate  or  trachyte  is  reached. 
When  the  moon  favored,  late  returns  by  her  lovely  aid 
were  always  calculated  upon. 

"  Whenever  Mrs.  Lemmon  could  not  accompany 
me  on  these  extra  laborious  trips,  she  was  busily 
occupied  in  making  paintings  of  the  flowers  in  the 
vicinity  of  the  camp,  or  in  changing  dryers  within  the 
many  packages  of  plants  collected  on  previous  explora- 
tions. 

"  Sometimes  we  took  long  journeys  on  our  horses, 
going  round  the  bases  of  dividing  ridges  between 
canyons,  or  climbing  by  perilous  zigzag  trails  over 
them.  From  the  highest  points,  the  peculiar  features 
of  a  flat,  desert  country,  interspersed  with  island 
mountains  dancing  in  a  heated  atmosphere,  bounded 
our  horizon. 

"  These  long  trips  occupied  from  three  to  five  days' 
time,  and  often  included  the  circuit  of  half  the  range; 


J.  G.  AND  SARA  P.  LEMMON        331 

at  times  we  passed  across  the  Mexican  boundary  at  the 
risk  of  being  deprived  of  our  animals  by  Mexican 
officials,  little  better  than  Italian  bandits;  or  worse, 
being  cut  off  altogether  by  Apaches,  several  tribes  of 
whom  were  again  on  the  war-path  under  the  notorious 
chieftain,  Juh,  still  at  large.  During  one  of  these  trips 
we  passed  over  the  locality  where  recent  massacres 
had  occurred;  and,  as  appeared  afterward,  while  on 
one  of  the  high  southern  ridges,  near  Cave  Canyon, 
an  Apache  massacre  was  being  perpetrated  upon  two 
Americans  and  three  Mexicans,  only  five  miles  below 
us  —  a  fate  which  we  narrowly  escaped  by  happening 
to  choose  the  upper  trail." 

But  heat,  cacti,  yucca,  rattlesnakes,  Gila  monsters, 
Mexican  bandits,  and  the  criminals  of  the  United  States 
and  Mexico  who  plied  their  nefarious  business  on  both 
sides  of  the  border,  and  Apaches  combined  could  not 
restrain  the  search  or  dampen  the  ardor  of  these  two 
devoted  servants  of  science,  and  finally  their  efforts 
were  triumphantly  rewarded.  Three  species  were 
found,  the  last  of  which  required  longer  search  than 
the  others: 

"  The  third  kind  of  wild  potato  of  Arizona  was  not 
so  easily  found.  It  was  only  after  a  long  day's  climb 
.  .  .  that  I  reached  the  summit  of  the  highest  peak 
of  the  Huachuca,  a  little  over  ten  thousand  feet  alti- 
tude. This  peak  is  steep  and  rugged,  besides  being 
beset  with  a  dense  clothing  of  thorny  bushes  covering 
most  of  its  surface.  In  the  shade  of  the  north  side 
a  spire  of  timber,  sharply  defined  at  the  sides,  ascends 
to  the  very  top.  Here,  hi  this  very  highest  point,  under 


332  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

the  shade  of  fir,  pine,  and  poplar  trees,  kept  moist  by 
melting  banks  of  snow  for  a  great  part  of  the  year, 
were  found  several  plants  of  this  little  species. 
Widely  scattered  among  the  rank  herbage,  they  were 
bravely  lifting  their  mostly  simple  and  nearly  orbicular 
leaves  and  nodding  balls  of  seed  from  under  the  golden- 
rods  and  brilliant  asters." 

Every  reader  of  these  pages  should  finish  the  whole 
story,  which  well  might  be  termed  "  The  Romance  of 
the  Irish  Potato."  It  may  be  found  in  The  Overland 
Monthly,  for  April  and  May,  1883,  and  is  well  worthy 
a  place  among  the  true  classics  of  California  literature. 

A  later  Overland  —  that  of  September,  1888  —  con- 
tains an  exquisitely  written,  graphic  and  vivid  descrip- 
tion of  the  San  Francisco  Mountains,  near  Flagstaff, 
Arizona,  and  of  a  visit  Professor  and  Mrs.  Lemmon 
paid  to  the  Grand  Canyon,  by  way  of  Peach  Springs 
and  Diamond  Creek,  a  route  now  almost  forgotten 
since  the  railway  to  El  Tovar  was  built.  They  aimed 
to  reach  the  height  of  Agassiz,  the  extinct  volcano  that 
forms  the  highest  peak  of  this  beautifully  chiseled 
mountain-range. 

"  On  the  way  our  noiseless  vehicle  allowed  us  often 
to  approach  quite  near  herds  of  graceful  antelope 
feeding  in  the  secluded  parks,  before  their  watchful 
sentinels,  stamping  the  earth  with  heavy  strokes,  started 
the  herds  off  with  long  bounds. 

"  The  peak,  nearly  devoid  of  timber  for  its  upper 
three  thousand  feet,  was  furrowed  by  several  ravines 
yet  partially  rilled  with  snow,  and  their  dazzling  white- 
ness, lit  up  by  the  declining  sun  as  we  approached, 


J.  G.  AND  SARA  P.  LEMMON        333 

contrasted  very  effectively  with  the  variegated  tints 
of  red,  yellow,  brown,  and  black  scoriae  displayed  in 
stripes  and  blocks  on  the  bare  projecting  ribs;  while 
beneath  all  the  supporting  meadow  of  rich  grasses  held 
up  long  reaches  to  the  very  banks  of  melting  snow. 

"  We  pitched  our  tent  for  the  night  near  the  spring 
and  cabin  of  a  sheep-herder.  Next  morning  we  were 
occupied  till  late,  as  usual  after  a  day's  travel  in  such 
a  rich  botanical  region,  in  drying  out  the  botanical  pads; 
several  of  the  plants,  too,  were  strangers  and  tempted 
examination,  so  it  was  ten  o'clock  before  we  got  off  for 
the  peak. 

"  The  first  three  or  four  miles  being  a  gradual  rise 
covered  with  grass,  we  decided  to  drive  the  wagon  up  to 
a  convenient  spot  near  the  snow  and  picket  the  mules 
for  the  day,  while  we  prosecuted  the  further  ascent  on 
foot,  —  designing  to  return  and  make  camp  at  that 
point  for  the  night  and  go  on  eastward  next  day. 

"  But  no  water  could  be  found  for  the  mules.  In 
vain  we  searched  an  hour  among  the  ravines;  the 
water1  from  the  melting  banks  sank  at  once  into  the 
scoriae  and  volcanic  ashes;  so  we  were  forced  either 
to  abandon  the  trip  altogether,  or  to  hasten  up,  leaving 
the  animals  securely  tied  to  suffer  a  little  for  water 
until  our  return,  when  we  would  hurry  down  to  the 
herder's  spring. 

"  We  chose  to  make  the  ascent,  —  in  fact  the  nearness 
and  detail  of  the  monster  cone  piercing  the  sky  a  mile 
or  so  above  us  was  simply  irresistible." 

Then  follows  a  graphic  description  of  the  ascent 
and  the  view  from  the  summit.  Professor  Lemmon 


334  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

here  seems  to  have  been  inspired.  His  prose-poems 
can  only  be  compared  to  those  equally  inspired  pro- 
ductions of  the  poet-geologist,  Clarence  Button,  written 
on  the  brink  of  the  Grand  Canyon  at  Point  Sublime. 
A  touch  of  solid  prose,  however,  ends  the  poetic 
rhapsody.  Here  it  is: 

"Is  it  any  wonder  that  we  did  not  leave  the  spot 
until  the  scene- shifter  shut  off  the  light  ?  Ah !  but  that 
was  almost  a  fatal  delay  for  us. 

"  Hastening  down  the  steep  by  long  strides  and 
slides  in  the  loose  scoriae,  we  found  our  animals  pull- 
ing at  their  ropes  in  great  fright.  No  doubt  a  brown 
bear  —  somewhat  plentiful  in  the  region  —  had  visited 
our  camp,  and  of  all  wild  beasts  a  bear  will  give  most 
alarm  to  a  mule.  Hurriedly  attaching  the  mules  to  the 
wagon,  we  mounted,  put  on  the  brakes,  and  began  the 
descent  towards  the  light  in  the  herder's  camp. 

"  But  in  the  darkness  the  large  boulders  and  blocks 
of  scoriae,  large  as  modern  stove-ranges,  that  were 
easily  seen  and  avoided  on  the  up-trip,  were  unseen 
now,  and  the  way  seemed  full  of  them.  The  mules, 
fleeing  from  a  frightful  spot,  refused  to  obey  the  curb- 
reins,  though  I  drew  upon  them  with  all  my  strength. 

"  Over  the  obstacles  we  bounded;  now  this  side  of 
the  vehicle  was  elevated  nearly  to  the  point  of  over- 
turning, now  the  other.  My  wife  threw  herself  into 
the  bottom  of  the  wagon,  and  resigned  herself  silently 
to  her  fate;  while  I  wrapped  the  lines  about  my  hands, 
pressed  the  brake-bar  hard  down,  and  steered  the 
frightened  animals,  now  at  full  speed,  directly  down 
the  steep.  As  the  mules  flew  along,  the  little  wagon 


J.  G.  AND  SARA  P.  LEMMON        335 

seemed  to  be  almost  upon  their  backs;  the  wheels 
hitting  only  the  tops  of  the  rocks,  and  veering  from 
side  to  side  as  the  mules  dodged  the  larger  boulders. 

"  By  the  most  marvelous  series  of  accidents  the 
occupants  of  that  little  wagon  escaped,  for  a  few  min- 
utes of  this  breakneck  speeding  brought  them  safely 
to  the  camp  of  the  frightened  herder,  who  held  his 
lantern  up  to  their  blanched  faces,  but  could  only 
wring  from  them  the  exultant  explanation  of  the  clat- 
tering sound,  that  they  had  been  to  the  top  of  the  peak 
and  had  looked  over  into  the  Grand  Canyon." 

An  adventure  of  quite  a  different  character  befell 
Professor  and  Mrs.  Lemmon  on  one  of  their  earlier 
visits  to  the  Canyon.  They  reached  "  Peach  Spring  at 
two  o'clock  in  the  night,  and  experienced  a  reception 
characteristic  of  new  railroad  towns  of  the  period.  We 
were  conducted  by  a  brakeman  to  Farley's  tent,  the 
only  habitation  known  as  a  hotel  in  the  town,  and  were 
quartered  in  a  portion  of  it  curtained  off  by  cheap 
calico. 

"  Scarcely  had  we  lost  consciousness,  when  pistol 
shots  were  heard,  and  a  loud,  querulous  female  voice 
outside  announced  that  two  gamblers  in  an  adjoining 
saloon  had  been  quarreling,  and  that  '  Jem  Smith 
was  shot  full  of  holes.' 

"  Some  of  the  bullets  passed  through  and  over  our 
tent,  causing  us  to  lie  awake  shivering  until  daylight, 
while  thinking  of  the  then  unrealized  safety  we  en- 
joyed when  in  the  hermit's  tunnel  of  the  Chiracahua, 
and  the  miner's  stone  cabin  of  the  Huachuca." 

After  twenty  years  of  such  arduous  and  yet  delightful 


336  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

explorations,  Professor  Lemmon  was  appointed  botan- 
ist by  the  California  Board  of  Forestry,  and  his  wife  was 
made  botanic  artist.  This  gave  them  a  great  oppor- 
tunity to  do  pioneer  work  in  California  in  such  a  way 
as  to  give  a  strong  impetus  to  the  study  of  forestry.  Their 
work  was  so  excellent  that  the  Department  of  Botany, 
at  Washington,  D.  C.,  in  one  of  the  Annual  Reports, 
states  that  the  written  results  of  Professor  Lemmon's 
labors  and  the  illustrations  which  accompanied  them 
were  by  far  the  best  that  had  ever  been  recorded. 

Indeed,  it  may  safely  be  affirmed  that  this  pair  of 
pioneer  botanists  were  the  first  forestry  conservationists 
of  the  State,  for  as  early  as  1882  they  fought  for  the 
preservation  of  our  noble  forests.  In  1886-1889  the 
State  published  their  reports,  in  which  the  conservation 
of  the  forests  is  urgently  insisted  upon ;  and  later,  at  their 
own  expense,  they  issued  books  and  pamphlets,  illus- 
trative of  the  subject,  educative  and  informing  in  the 
highest  degree.  In  those  days  only  the  very  few  in  the 
land  saw  the  dangers  that  are  now  so  well  understood, 
and  only  here  and  there,  like  voices  crying  in  the  wilder- 
ness, could  those  be  found  with  courage  and  persistence 
to  protest  against  the  destruction  of  our  never-to-be- 
replaced  forests  for  mere  commercialism. 

Mrs.  Lemmon  was  as  earnest  and  energetic  as  her 
husband.  For  three  years  she  was  Chairman  of  the 
Forestry  Committee  of  the  California  Federation  of 
Women's  Clubs,  and  with  pen  and  voice  never  ceased 
pleading  for  the  noble  trees  she  loved  so  well.  One  of 
her  pleas  was  an  eight-page  brochure,  Some  Hints  on 
Forestry,  and  this  was  followed  by  a  seventy-page 


J.  G.  AND  SARA  P.  LEMMON        337 

booklet,  with  many  illustrations,  entitled  How  to  tell 
the  Trees,  in  which  her  husband  wrote  an  admirable 
chapter  on  the  grand  forest  endowment  God  had  be- 
stowed upon  California. 

Thus,  hand  in  hand,  shoulder  to  shoulder,  these 
sweet-spirited,  amiable,  and  devoted  heroes  have  lived 
and  worked,  quietly  benefiting  .a  people,  many  of  whom 
were  never  even  aware  of  their  existence.  In  November, 
1908,  the  beckoning  finger  called  Professor  Lemmon  to 
new  and  better  fields  of  labor,  leaving  his  loving  com- 
rade to  issue  the  book  upon  which  his  latest  energies 
were  spent,  —  a  work  describing  and  fully  illustrating 
all  the  native  trees  of  California,  —  a  fitting  and  appro- 
priate closing  chapter  in  memory  of  the  flowering 
pathways  they  trod  together  for  fully  thirty  years. 


CHAPTER    XXXII 

THE    STUDIOUS    HERO    OF    THE    MOUNTAINS, 
JOHN    MUIR 

IN  an  earlier  chapter  has  been  given  the  story  of 
Clarence  King's  mountaineering  and  the  heroism 
of  his  endeavors.  Soon  after  the  time  that  Clarence 
King  did  the  work  there  recorded,  a  young  man,  whose 
name  was  to  be  even  more  inseparably  connected  with 
the  mountains  of  California,  was  working  his  way  from 
Madison,  Wisconsin,  through  the  South  towards  the 
Pacific  Coast,  though  when  he  started  he  had  no  inten- 
tion to  make  that  the  end  of  his  journey.  His  name  was 
John  Muir,  —  a  well-known  Scotch  name,  but  as  yet 
almost  unknown  in  American  annals.  Now,  by  the  life 
and  work  of  this  one  man,  the  name  of  Muir  is  known 
throughout  the  world. 

Rightly  to  understand  and  appreciate  this  life,  one 
should  read  an  article  in  The  Outlook,  of  June  6,  1903, 
in  which  Ray  Stannard  Baker  shows  how  the  lad 
Muir  prepared  himself  unconsciously  and  unknow- 
ingly for  the  work  of  the  man  Muir.  It  is  a  wonderful 
example  of  that  self-  discipline  I  have  endeavored 
to  inculcate  hi  the  chapter  on  Junipero  Serra.  Here 
are  a  few  quotations  to  show  the  spirit  of  the  lad : 

"  This  one  of  the  boys  of  the  Muir  family  was  am- 
bitious, often  taking  his  mathematical  problems  with 


JOHN  MUIR  339 

him  to  the  fields  and  working  them  out  on  chips  from 
the  trees  that  he  felled;  and  though  he  knew  that  his 
father's  rules  were  like  those  of  the  Medes  and  Per- 
sians, never  changeable,  and  that  he  could  not  hope 
for  more  time  to  read  in  the  evening,  he  was  finally 
told  that  he  might  get  up  as  early  as  he  liked  in  the 
morning.  Though  accustomed  to  sleep  ten  hours  every 
night,  he  now  broke  off  sharply  to  five  hours  by  sheer 
force  of  will. 

"  '  It  was  winter,'  he  said;  '  a  boy  sleeps  soundly 
after  chopping  and  fence-building  all  day  in  frosty  air 
and  snow;  therefore  I  feared  I  would  not  be  able  to 
take  any  advantage  of  the  granted  permission.  For 
I  was  always  asleep  at  six  o'clock  when  father  called, 
the  early-rising  machine  was  not  then  made,  and  there 
was  no  one  to  awake  me.  Going  to  bed  wondering 
whether  I  could  compel  myself  to  awake  before  the 
regular  hour  and  determined  to  try,  I  was  delighted 
next  morning  to  find  myself  early  called  by  will,  the 
power  of  which  over  sleep  I  then  for  the  first  time 
discovered.  Throwing  myself  out  of  bed  and  lighting  a 
candle,  eager  to  learn  how  much  time  had  been  gained, 
I  found  it  was  only  one  o'clock,  leaving  five  hours  all 
my  own  before  the  work  of  the  farm  begun.  At  this 
same  hour,  all  winter  long,  my  will,  like  a  good  angel, 
awoke  me,  and  never  did  time  seem  more  gloriously 
precious  and  rich.  Fire  was  not  allowed,  so  to  escape 
the  frost  I  went  down  cellar,  and  there  read  some 
favorite  book  or  marked  out  some  invention  that 
haunted  me.' 

"  John  Muir's  career  may  be  said  to  have  had  its 


340          HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

beginning  on  the  day  that  he  set  forth,  a  raw  country 
boy,  to  conquer  the  world,  hope  in  his  heart  and  an 
odd  bundle  of  whittled  wooden  machinery  on  his 
shoulder.  He  had  made  a  thermometer  out  of  the 
end  rod  of  his  father's  wagon,  so  fastening  it  to  the  side 
of  the  house  that  the  expansion  of  the  iron  in  varying 
degrees  of  heat  was  indicated  on  a  large  dial.  He  had 
invented  and  built  an  automatic  saw-mill,  and  several 
wooden  clocks,  one  of  them  in  the  form  of  a  scythe 
hung  on  a  burr-oak  sapling,  representing  the  scythe 
of  old  Father  Time  —  a  good  timekeeper,  indicating 
the  days  of  the  week  and  month,  and  having  at- 
tachments for  other  inventions  —  for  lighting  fires  and 
lamps,  a  bedstead  that  set  the  sleeper  on  his  feet  at 
any  desired  time,  and  so  on.  He  had  also  invented  an 
automatic  arrangement  for  feeding  horses,  a  bathing- 
machine,  barometer,  pyrometer,  hydrometer,  safety 
locks,  etc.,  all  original,  even  the  clocks,  he  never  at 
that  time  having  seen  the  works  of  any  sort  of  time- 
keeper." 

In  1860  his  neighbors  prevailed  upon  him  to  exhibit 
his  wonderful  inventions  at  the  Wisconsin  State  Fair, 
to  be  held  at  Madison.  Since  he  had  come  to  the  farm 
from  Scotland  (when  he  was  eleven  years  old)  he  had 
never  been  more  than  six  miles  from  home  and  had  not 
ridden  on  a  railway,  yet  a  glimpse  at  his  sackful  of 
machinery  so  interested  both  conductor  and  en- 
gineer that  they  allowed  him  to  ride  on  the  engine. 
When  he  reached  Madison  the  superintendent  of  the 
Fair  was  "  only  too  pleased  at  the  prospect  of  exhibiting 
his  marvels,  and  they  soon  occupied  a  prominent 


JOHN  MUIR  34i 

* 

place  in  the  fine- arts  hall,  where  Muir,  too  shy  to  pose 
as  the  inventor,  mingled  with  the  crowd  and  heard 
the  admiring  comments  of  the  spectators.  Though 
suddenly  finding  himself  a  celebrity,  he  refused, 
quaintly  enough,  to  read  the  accounts  of  his  inven- 
tions which  appeared  in  the  newspapers,  for  his 
father  had  always  warned  him  of  the  deadly  poison  of 
praise." 

"  For  four  years  he  was  a  student  (at  the  State 
University),  supporting  himself  largely  by  working  in 
the  harvest-fields,  by  teaching  school,  and  doing  all 
manner  of  odd  jobs." 

"  It  is  related  that  where  he  once  taught  school  he 
fitted  up  a  machine  which  lighted  the  fire  for  him  every 
morning,  so  that  he  did  not  have  to  reach  the  school- 
house  so  early." 

Thus  he  was  unconsciously  preparing  himself  to' 
begin  his  real  life  work.  Through  what  battlings  and 
smugglings  a  man  attains.  In  1866,  when  he  was 
twenty-seven  years  old,  he  writes: 

"  I  have  been  keeping  up  an  irregular  course  of 
study  since  leaving  Madison  but  with  no  great  success. 
...  A  lifetime  is  so  little  a  time  that  we  die  ere  we  get 
ready  to  live.  I  would  like  to  go  to  college,  but  then 
I  have  to  say  to  myself  '  you  will  die  ere  you  can  do 
anything  else.'  I  should  like  to  invent  useful  machin- 
ery, but  it  comes  '  you  do  not  wish  to  spend  your  life- 
time among  machines  and  you  will  die  ere  you  can  do 
anything  else.'  I  should  like  to  study  medicine  that  I 
might  do  my  part  in  lessening  human  misery,  but  again 
it  comes  '  you  will  die  ere  you  are  ready,  or  able  to  do 


342  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

so.'  How  intensely  I  desire  to  be  a  Humboldt,  but 
again  the  chilling  answer  is  reiterated.  But  could  we 
but  live  a  million  of  years  then  how  delightful  to  spend 
in  perfect  contentment  so  many  thousand  years  in 
quiet  study  in  college,  so  many  amid  the  grateful  din 
of  machines,  so  many  among  human  pain,  so  many 
thousands  in  the  sweet  study  of  Nature  among  the 
dingles  and  dells  of  Scotland,  and  all  the  other  less 
important  parts  of  our  world.  Then  perhaps  might 
we,  with  at  least  a  show  of  reason,  shuffle  off  this  mortal 
coil  and  look  back  upon  our  star  with  something  of 
satisfaction.  ...  In  our  higher  state  of  existence  we 
shall  have  time  and  intellect  for  study.  Eternity  with 
perhaps  the  whole  unlimited  creation  of  God  as  our 
field  should  satisfy  us,  and  make  us  patient  and  trust- 
ful, while  we  pray  with  the  Psalmist :  '  So  teach  us  to 
number  our  days  that  we  may  apply  our  hearts  unto 
wisdom.'  .  .  .  What  you  say  respecting  the  littleness  of 
the  number  who  are  called  to  '  the  pure  and  deep  com- 
munion of  the  beautiful  all- loving  Nature '  is  particu- 
larly true  of  the  hard-working  people  with  whom  I  now 
dwell  —  in  vain  is  the  glorious  chart  of  God  in  nature 
spread  out  for  them.  '  So  many  acres  chopped  '  is  their 
motto,  so  they  grub  away  amid  the  smoke  of  magnifi- 
cent forest  trees  black  as  demons  and  material  as  the 
soil  they  move  upon.  ...  In  my  long  rambles  last 
summer  I  did  not  find  a  single  person  who  knew  any- 
thing of  botany,  and  but  a  few  who  knew  the  meaning  of 
the  word;  and  wherein  lay  the  charm  that  could  con- 
duct a  man  who  might  as  well  be  gathering  mammon, 
so  many  miles  through  these  fastnesses  tb  suffer  hunger 


JOHN  MUIR  343 

and  exhaustion  was  with  them  never  to  be  discovered. 
.  .  .  That  '  sweet  day '  did,  as  you  wished,  reach  our 
hollow,  and  another  is  with  us  now.  The  sky  has 
the  haze  of  autumn  and  excepting  the  aspen  not  a  tree 
has  motion.  Upon  our  enclosing  wall  of  verdure  new 
tints  appear.  The  gorgeous  dyes  of  autumn  are  too 
plainly  seen,  and  the  forest  seems  to  have  found  out 
that  again  its  leaf  must  fade.  Our  stream  too  has  a  less 
cheerful  sound  and,  as  it  bears  its  foam-bells  pen- 
sively away  from  the  shallow  rapids  in  the  rocks,  seems 
to  feel  that  summer  is  past." 

Let  us  now  go  back  to  the  earlier  portion  of  this  letter 
and  reread  it.  Here  are  four  distinct  aims  that  moved 
Muir's  soul  at  this  time.  Study  of  nature,  machinery, 
the  healing  work  of  the  physician  and  to  be  a  Humboldt. 
He  bitterly  regretted  the  shortness  of  human  life  that  he 
could  not  take  up  and  master  all  four  departments. 
An  accident  soon  after  this  date  for  the  time  being 
injured  his  eyesight  so  severely  that  he  feared  he  had 
lost  sight  hi  his  right  eye  for  ever.  Here  is  what  he 
wrote  at  the  time.  His  letter  is  dated  April  3,  1867. 
"  I  felt  neither  pain  nor  faintness,  the  thought  was  so 
tremendous  that  my  right  eye  was  gone,  that  I  should 
never  look  at  a  flower  again.  The  sunshine  and  the 
winds  are  working  in  all  the  gardens  of  God,  but  I,  I 
am  lost.  I  am  shut  in  darkness." 

Three  days  later  he  writes:  "  I  believe  you  that 
'  nothing  is  without  meaning  and  purpose  that  comes 
from  a  Father's  hand,'  but  during  these  dark  weeks 
I  could  not  feel  this,  and  as  for  courage  and  fortitude, 
scarce  the  shadows  of  these  virtues  were  left  me.  The 


344  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

shock  upon  my  nervous  system  made  me  weak  in  mind 
as  a  child." 

Little  by  little  his  sight  began  to  return  and  on  June 
gth  he  writes:  "  I  am  thankful  that  this  affliction  has 
drawn  me  to  the  sweet  fields  rather  than  from  them." 
As  soon  as  he  was  able  he  started,  with  a  plant  press 
on  his  back,  and  three  books  in  his  pocket,  —  the  New 
Testament,  Burns  and  Milton,  —  for  a  tramp  through 
the  South.  Glad  and  thankful  to  be  out-of-doors,  he 
tramped,  often  footsore,  weary  and  hungry,  over  a 
thousand  miles,  to  Florida.  Then  he  crossed  to  Cuba 
and  botanized  there. 

On  this  trip  he  slept  out-of-doors  most  of  the  time, 
both  as  a  matter  of  preference  and  economy,  but  it  was 
unwise,  for  in  the  Florida  swamps  he  contracted  a 
a  fever  which  again  brought  him  to  despair  —  but  the 
accident  to  his  eyesight  and  the  fever  were  blessings  in 
disguise. 

Here  are  parts  of  two  letters  he  wrote  while  on  his 
Southern  trip.  "  Among  the  Hills  of  Bear  Creek, 
seven  miles  southeast  of  Burkesville,  Kentucky, 
Sept.  gth.  I  left  Indiana  last  Monday  and  have 
reached  this  point  by  a  long,  weary,  roundabout 
walk.  I  walked  from  Louisville,  a  distance  of  one 
hundred  and  seventy  miles,  and  my  feet  are  sore,  but 
oh,  I  am  paid  for  all  my  toil  a  thousand  times  over. 
.  .  .  The  sun  has  been  among  the  tree  tops  for  more 
than  an  hour,  and  the  dew  is  nearly  all  taken  back  and 
the  shade  in  these  hid  basins  is  creeping  away  into 
the  unbroken  strongholds  of  the  grand  old  forest.  I 
have  enjoyed  the  trees  and  scenery  of  Kentucky  ex- 


JOHN  MUIR  345 

ceedingly.  How  shall  I  ever  tell  of  the  miles  and  miles 
of  beauty  that  have  been  flowing  into  me  ?  These  lofty 
curving  ranks  of  rolling,  swelling  hills;  these  concealed 
valleys  of  fathomless  verdure  and  these  lordly  trees 
with  the  nursing  sunlight  glancing  on  their  leaves  upon 
the  outlines  of  the  magnificent  masses  of  shade  em- 
bosomed among  their  wide  branches.  These  are  cut 
into  my  memory  to  go  with  me  forever. 

"  I  am  in  the  woods  on  a  hill  top  with  my  back 
against  a  moss-clad  log.  I  wish  you  could  see  my  last 
evening's  bedroom. 

"  It  was  a  few  miles  south  of  Louisville  where  I 
planned  my  journey.  I  spread  out  my  map  under  a 
tree  and  made  up  my  mind  to  go  through  Kentucky, 
Tennessee,  and  Georgia  to  Florida,  thence  to  Cuba, 
thence  to  some  part  of  South  America.  But  it  will  be 
only  a  hasty  walk.  I  am  thankful,  however,  for  so 
much." 

The  second  letter  is  dated  Cedar  Keys,  November 
8th. 

"  I  am  just  creeping  about,  getting  plants  and 
strength  after  my  fever.  I  do  not  yet  know  which  point 
in  S.  America  I  had  better  go  to." 

Then  suddenly  his  purpose  changed.  California  was 
suggested.  He  decided  to  accept  the  suggestion.  He 
came  by  way  of  the  Isthmus  of  Panama,  and  in  April  of 
1868  stood  in  the  streets  of  the  active,  bustling,  exciting, 
gold-loving  San  Francisco.  One  would  have  supposed 
this  new  and  stirring  city  of  the  Pacific  shore  would  have 
aroused  his  curiosity  and  desire  to  know  all  of  its 
wonders  and  mysteries.  But  not  a  nerve  thrilled 


346  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

to  any  call  the  wonderful  city  made.  Far  to  the  south 
and  east  were  the  Sierra  Nevada  —  those  peaks  of  the 
great  snowy  range  that  separate  California  from  Nevada 
—  with  their  deep  canyons,  glacier-formed  domes, 
fearsome  precipices,  dense  forests,  all  sending  out 
thrills  of  allurement.  He  knew  next  to  nothing  about 
what  he  was  going  to  see;  he  anticipated  nothing  of  the 
great  discoveries  that  were  to  make  him  famous,  yet 
the  mysteries  and  wonders  of  this  portion  of  great. 
Nature  called  to  him  with  many  voices  that  could  not 
be  withstood,  and,  with  but  one  day  given  to  the  at- 
tractions of  the  city,  he  fled  to  the  mountains. 

It  was  the  voice  of  his  fate,  his  love,  calling  to  him. 
He  could  not  have  resisted  it  had  he  tried,  and  he  did  not 
try.  He  went,  he  saw,  and  was  conquered.  Since  then 
he  has  wandered  over  many  thousands  of  miles  of  the 
earth's  varied  surface,  yet  he  has  never  lost  his  first  love 
for  the  Sierra  Nevada. 

With  all  this  after  knowledge  before  us,  it  is  inter- 
esting to  read  in  a  letter  dated  "  Near  Snelling,  Merced 
Co.,  California,  July  26th,  1868.  Fate  and  flowers 
have  carried  me  to  California  and  I  have  reveled  and 
luxuriated  amid  its  plants  and  mountains  nearly  four 
months.  I  am  well  again.  I  came  to  life  in  the  cool 
winds  and  crystal  waters  of  the  mountains,  and  were  it 
not  for  a  thought  now  and  again  of  loneliness  and 
isolation,  the  pleasure  of  my  existence  would  be  com- 
plete. I  will  remain  here  eight  or  nine  months." 

That  was  in  1868.  It  is  now  1910;  forty-two  years 
later,  and  John  Muir  is  still  within  sight  and  reach  and 
smell  of  his  beloved  Sierras. 


JOHN  MUIR  347 

But  at  this  distance  it  is  more  than  interesting  to  read 
a  few  passages  from  his  first  letter  descriptive  of  the 
wonders  of  California. 

"  After  a  delightful  sail  I  arrived  in  San  Francisco 
in  April,  and  struck  out  at  once  into  the  country.  I  fol- 
lowed the  Diablo  foothills  along  the  San  Jose  valley 
to  Gilroy  —  thence  over  the  Diablo  Mountains  to  the 
valley  of  San  Joaquin  by  the  Pacheco  pass,  thence 
down  the  valley  opposite  the  mouth  of  the  Merced 
River,  thence  across  the  San  Joaquin,  and  up  into  the 
Sierra  Nevadas  to  the  mammoth  trees  of  Mariposa, 
and  the  glorious  Yo- Semite  —  thence  down  the  Merced 
to  this  place. 

"  The  goodness  of  the  weather  as  I  journeyed  towards 
Pacheco  was  beyond  all  praise  and  description  — 
fragrant,  and  mellow,  and  bright,  the  sky  was  perfectly 
delicious.  Sweet  enough  for  the  breath  of  angels,  every 
draught  of  it  gave  a  separate  and  distinct  piece  of  pleas- 
ure. I  do  not  believe  that  Adam  and  Eve  ever  tasted 
better  in  their  balmiest  nook.  The  last  of  the  coast  range 
foothills  were  in  near  view  all  the  way  to  Gilroy;  their 
union  with  the  valley  is  by  curves  and  slopes  of  in- 
imitable beauty,  and  they  were  robed  with  the  greenest 
grass  and  richest  light  I  ever  beheld,  and  colored  and 
shaded  with  myriads  of  flowers  of  every  hue,  chiefly 
of  purple  and  golden  yellow,  and  hundreds  of  crystal 
rills  joined  song  with  the  larks,  filling  all  the  valley 
with  music  like  a  sea,  making  it  Eden  from  end  to  end. 

"  The  scenery  too,  and  all  of  nature  in  the  pass  is 
fairly  enchanting,  —  strange  and  beautiful  mountian 
ferns,  low  in  the  dark  canyons,  and  high  upon  the 


348  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

rocky  sunlit  peaks,  —  banks  of  blooming  shrubs,  and 
sprinklings,  and  gatherings  of  garment  flowers,  precious 
and  pure  as  ever  enjoyed  the  sweets  of  a  mountain 
home.  Oh  what  streams  are  there  beaming,  glancing, 
—  each  with  music  of  its  own,  singing  as  they  go  in 
shadow  and  light,  onward  upon  their  lovely  changing 
pathways  to  the  sea.  And  hills  rise  over  hills,  and 
mountains  over  mountains,  heaving,  waving,  swelling, 
in  most  glorious  overpowering,  unreadable  majesty  — 
and  when  at  last  stricken  and  faint  like  a  crushed  in- 
sect, you  hope  to  escape  from  all  the  terrible  grandeur 
of  these  mountain  powers,  other  mountains,  other  oceans 
break  forth  before  you,  for  there,  in  clear  view,  over 
heaps  and  rows  of  foothills  is  laid  a  grand,  smooth,  out- 
spread plain,  watered  by  a  river,  and  another  range 
of  peaky,  snow-capped  mountains  a  hundred  miles  in 
the  distance.  That  plain  is  the  valley  of  the  San  Joa- 
quin,  and  those  mountains  are  the  great  Sierra  Ne- 
v.adas.  The  valley  of  the  San  Joaquin  is  the  floweriest 
piece  of  world  I  ever  walked  —  one  vast,  level,  even 
flower-bed  —  a  sheet  of  flowers  —  a  smooth  sea,  ruffled 
a  little  in  the  middle  by  the  tree-fringing  of  the  river, 
and  here  and  there  of  smaller  cross  streams  from  the 
mountains.  Florida  is  indeed  a  land  of  flowers,  but 
for  every  flowrer  creature  that  dwells  in  its  most  de- 
lightsome places,  more  than  a  hundred  are  living  here. 
Here,  here  is  Florida.  Here  they  are  not  sprinkled 
apart  with  grass  between  as  in  our  prairies,  but  grasses 
are  sprinkled  in  the  flowers ;  not  as  in  Cuba,  flowers  piled 
upon  flowers,  heaped  and  gathered  into  deep  glowing 
masses,  but  side  by  side,  flower  to  flower,  petal  to 


JOHN  MUIR  349 

petal,  touching  but  not  entwined,  branches  weaving 
past  and  past  each  other, .  but  free  and  separate  — 
one  smooth  garment,  mosses  next  the  ground,  grasses 
above,  petaled  flowers  between. 

"  Before  studying  the  flowers  of  this  valley,  and  their 
sky,  and  all  of  the  furniture,  and  sounds,  and  adorn- 
ments of  their  home,  one  can  scarce  believe  that  their 
vast  assemblies  are  permanent,  but  rather  that,  actu- 
ated by  some  great  plant  purpose,  they  had  convened 
from  every  plain,  and  mountain,  and  meadow  of  their 
kingdom,  and  that  the  different  coloring  of  patches, 
acres  and  miles,  marked  the  bounds  of  the  various 
tribe  and  family  encampments." 

In  1876  he  joined  the  United  States  Coast  and 
Geodetic  Survey  in  order  to  know  something  of  the 
deserts  and  mountain  ranges  on  the  other  side  of  the 
Sierras.  For  three  years  he  worked,  mainly  in  Ne- 
vada and  Utah,  enlarging  his  knowledge,  and  coming 
into  contact  with  many  interesting  and  unconven- 
tional people  in  the  States  of  Sage  Brush  and  Mor- 
mons. 

Then  he  went  back  to  his  glacier  studies  in  the 
Sierras,  and  in  1879  determined  to  explore  the  glaciers 
of  Alaska.  There  he  discovered  the  great  glacier  that 
bears  his  name,  as  well  as  Glacier  Bay,  into  which  it 
flows.  He  traveled  thousands  of  miles  up  and  down 
the  streams  of  Alaska,  often  alone,  sometimes  with 
Indians,  many  hundreds  of  miles  in  the  company  of 
Rev.  S.  Hall  Young,  a  Presbyterian  missionary.  In 
1 88 1  he  was  a  member  of  the  Cor  win  expedition  which 
went  in  search  of  De  Long  and  the  ill-fated  Jeannette, 


350  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

and  thus  was  afforded  another  opportunity  of  extend- 
ing his  glacial  studies  in  the  Behring  Sea  and  along  the 
coast  of  Siberia.  The  continuity  and  persistence  of  his 
interests  may  be  seen  from  the  fact  that  he  personally 
explored  and  studied  the  most  notable  ice-rivers  of 
North  America,  as  well  as  the  work  of  the  ancient 
and  extinct  glaciers,  and  then,  in  1893,  went  to  Norway 
and  Switzerland  in  order  to  compare  what  he  had  seen 
on  this  continent  with  the  conditions  there. 

In  person  he  is  tall,  wiry,  of  slight  build,  but  pos- 
sessed of  the  muscles,  nerves  and  sinews  of  a  trained 
athlete.  Dressed  in  black  conventional  costume,  he 
looks  more  like  a  minister  than  the  hero  of  moun- 
tain climbing  adventures  and  daring  glacier- explor- 
ing. 

Muir's  later  work  has  been  mainly  in  the  West. 
He  has  been  -a  persistent  and  tireless  worker.  Hun- 
dreds of  pages  in  magazines,  scientific  journals,  news- 
papers testify  to  his  indomitable  energy,  and  his  two 
books,  The  Mountains  of  California  and  Our  National 
Parks,  are  prose  poems  full  of  meat  for  scientist,  orator 
and  writer.  Everything  he  writes  is  worth  reading. 
He  always  has  something  to  say  and  says  it  well,  be- 
cause he  writes  unaffectedly  and  simply.  But  when  his 
heart  is  bounding  with  joy  he  does  not  refrain  from 
expressing  it,  —  he  pours  it  out  with  enthusiasm  and 
thus  communicates  the  same  delightful  emotions  to 
his  readers.  He  has  written  only  one  other  book,— 
a  beautiful  story  of  a  dog,  Stickeen. 

To  give  a  little  of  Muir's  flavor,  his  literary  style, 
as  differentiated  from  his  letters,  let  me  quote  an  ex- 


JOHN  MUIR  351 

perience  from  the  first-named  book,  in  the  chapter 
entitled,  "  A  Near  View  of  the  High  Sierra." 

"  I  made  my  bed  in  a  nook  of  the  pine- thicket,  where 
the  branches  were  pressed  and  crinkled  overhead  like  a 
roof,  and  bent  down  around  the  sides.  These  are  the 
best  bedchambers  the  high  mountains  afford  —  snug 
as  squirrel-nests,  well  ventilated,  full  of  spicy  odors, 
and  with  plenty  of  wind- played  needles  to  sing  one 
asleep.  I  little  expected  company,  but,  creeping  in 
through  a  low  side-door,  I  found  five  or  six  birds 
nestling  among  the  tassels.  The  night-wind  began  to 
blow  soon  after  dark ;  at  first  only  a  gentle  breathing, 
but  increasing  toward  midnight  to  a  rough  gale  that 
fell  upon  my  leafy  roof  in  ragged  surges  like  a  cascade, 
bearing  wild  sounds  from  the  crags  overhead.  The 
waterfall  sang  hi  chorus,  filling  the  old  ice-fountain 
with  its  solemn  roar,  and  seeming  to  increase  in  power  as 
the  night  advanced  —  fit  voice  for  such  a  landscape. 
I  had  to  creep  out  many  times  to  the  fire  during  the 
night,  for  it  was  biting  cold  and  I  had  no  blankets. 
Gladly  I  welcomed  the  morning  star." 

His  objective  point  was  Mount  Ritter  —  one  of 
the  glorious  snow-clad  peaks  of  the  Sierras. 

"  There,  immediately  in  front,  loomed  the  majestic 
mass  of  Mount  Ritter,  with  a  glacier  swooping  down 
its  face  nearly  to  my  feet,  then  curving  westward  and 
pouring  its  frozen  flood  into  a  dark  blue  lake,  whose 
shores  were  bound  with  precipices  of  crystalline  snow; 
while  a  deep  chasm  drawn  between  the  divide  and  the 
glacier  separated  the  massive  picture  from  everything 
else.  .  .  .  After  gazing  spellbound,  I  began  instinctively 


352  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

to  scrutinize  every  notch  and  gorge  and  weathered 
buttress  of  the  mountain,  with  reference  to  making 
the  ascent.  The  entire  front  of  the  glacier  appeared  as 
one  tremendous  precipice,  slightly  receding  at  the  top, 
and  bristling  with  spires  and  pinnacles  set  above  one 
another  in  formidable  array.  ...  I  could  not  dis- 
tinctly hope  to  reach  the  summit  from  this  side,  yet 
I  moved  on  across  the  glacier  as  if  driven  by  fate. 
Contending  with  myself,  the  season  is  too  far  spent, 
I  said,  and  even  should  I  be  successful,  I  might  be 
storm-bound  on  the  mountains;  and  in  the  cloud- 
darkness,  with  the  cliffs  and  crevasses  covered  with 
snow,  how  could  I  escape?  No;  I  must  \vait  till  next 
summer.  I  would  only  approach  the  mountain  now, 
and  inspect  it,  creep  about  its  flanks,  learn  what  I 
could  of  its  history,  holding  myself  ready  to  flee  on 
the  approach  of  the  first  storm-cloud.  But  wre  little 
know  until  tried  how  much  of  the  uncontrollable  there 
is  in  us,  urging  across  glaciers  and  torrents,  and  up 
dangerous  heights,  let  the  judgment  forbid  as  it  may. 

"  I  succeeded  in  gaining  the  foot  of  the  cliff  on  the 
eastern  extremity  of  the  glacier,  and  there  discovered 
the  mouth  of  a  narrow  avalanche  gully,  through  which 
I  began  to  climb,  intending  to  follow  it  as  far  as  pos- 
sible, and  at  least  obtain  some  fine  wrild  views  for  my 
pains.  Its  general  course  is  oblique  to  the  plain  of  the 
mountain-face,  and  the  metamorphic  slates  of  which 
the  mountain  is  built  are  cut  by  cleavage  planes  in  such 
a  way  that  they  weather  off  in  angular  blocks,  giving 
rise  to  irregular  steps  that  greatly  facilitate  climbing 
on  the  sheer  places.  I  thus  made  my  way  into  a  wilder- 


JOHN  MUIR  353 

ness  of  crumbling  spires  and  battlements,  built  to- 
gether in  bewildering  combinations,  and  glazed  in 
many  places  with  a  thin  coating  of  ice,  which  I  had 
to  hammer  off  with  stones.  The  situation  was  gradu- 
ally becoming  more  perilous;  but,  having  passed  several 
dangerous  spots,  I  dared  not  think  of  descending;  for, 
so  steep  was  the  entire  ascent,  one  would  inevitably 
fall  to  the  glacier  in  case  a  single  misstep  were  made. 
Knowing,  therefore,  the  tried  danger  beneath,  I  be- 
came all  the  more  anxious  concerning  the  developments 
to  be  made  above,  and  began  to  be  conscious  of  a 
vague  foreboding  of  what  actually  befell;  not  that  I 
was  given  to  fear,  but  rather  because  my  instincts, 
usually  so  positive  and  true,  seemed  vitiated  in  some 
way,  and  were  leading  me  astray.  At  length,  after 
attaining  an  elevation  of  about  eight  hundred  feet,  I 
found  myself  at  the  foot  of  a  sheer  drop  in  the  bed  of 
the  avalanche  channel  I  was  tracing,  which  seemed  ab- 
solutely to  bar  further  progress.  It  was  only  about 
forty-five  or  fifty  feet  high,  and  somewhat  roughened 
by  fissures  and  projections;  but  these  seemed  so  slight 
and  insecure,  as  footholds,  that  I  tried  hard  to  avoid 
the  precipice  altogether,  by  scaling  the  wall  of  the 
channel  on  either  side.  But,  though  less  steep,  the  walls 
were  smoother  than  the  obstructing  rock,  and  repeated 
efforts  only  showed  that  I  must  either  go  right  ahead 
or  turn  back.  The  tried  dangers  beneath  seemed  even 
greater  than  that  of  the  cliff  in  front;  therefore,  after 
scanning  its  face  again  and  again,  I  began  to  scale  it, 
picking  my  holds  with  intense  caution.  After  gaming 
a  point  about  half-way  to  the  top,  I  was  suddenly 


354  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

brought  to  a  dead  stop,  with  arms  outspread,  clinging 
close  to  the  face  of  the  rock,  unable  to  move  hand  or 
foot  either  up  or  down.  My  doom  appeared  fixed. 
I  must  fall.  There  would  be  a  moment  of  bewilder- 
ment, and  then  a  lifeless  rumble  down  the  one  general 
precipice  to  the  glacier  below. 

"  When  this  final  danger  flashed  upon  me,  I  became 
nerve- shaken  for  the  first  time  since  setting  foot  on 
the  mountains,  and  my  mind  seemed  to  fill  with  a 
stifling  smoke.  But  this  terrible  eclipse  lasted  only 
a  moment,  when  life  blazed  forth  again  with  preter- 
natural clearness.  I  seemed  suddenly  to  become  pos- 
sessed of  a  new  sense.  The  other  self,  bygone  ex- 
periences, Instinct,  or  Guardian  Angel,  —  call  it  what 
you  will, — -came  forward  and  assumed  control.  Then 
my  trembling  muscles  became  firm  again,  every  rift 
and  flaw  in  the  rock  was  seen  as  through  a  micro- 
scope, and  my  limbs  moved  with  a  positiveness  and 
precision  with  which  I  seemed  to  have  nothing  at  all 
to  do.  Had  I  been  borne  aloft  upon  wings,  my 
deliverance  could  not  have  been  more  complete. 

"  Above  this  memorable  spot,  the  face  of  the  moun- 
tain is  still  more  savagely  hacked  and  torn.  It  is  a 
maze  of  yawning  chasms  and  gullies,  in  the  angles  of 
which  rise  beetling  crags  and  piles  of  detached  boulders 
that  seem  to  have  been  gotten  ready  to  be  launched 
below.  But  the  strange  influx  of  strength  I  had  received 
seemed  inexhaustible.  I  found  a  way  without  effort, 
and  soon  stood  on  the  topmost  crag  in  the  blessed 
light." 

There  are  five  things  in  John  Muir's  career  that  stand 


JOHN  MUIR  355 

out  with  boldness  as  landmarks  for  the  guidance  of 
young  men  who  would  attain  in  their  sphere,  as  he 
has  attained  in  his.  These  are:  i.  His  determinate 
and  careful  selection  of  the  work  he  deemed  worthy 
the  energy  of  his  life.  In  John  Muir,  the  author  of 
that  much  praised  book  —  The  Simple  Life  —  would 
find  a  living  example  of  his  teaching.  No  man  can  love 
Nature  as  Muir  does  and  not  become  simplified  in  tastes, 
requirements,  needs.  And  thus  it  is  that  a  man  lives. 
Muir  knows  no  policy,  no  diplomacy ;  follows  no  man- 
made  charts  of  life,  has  no  fear  as  to  what  other 
people  think,  feel,  act  or  do.  He  does  his  own  chosen 
work  bravely,  fearlessly,  reverently,  and  knows,  with 
Emerson,  that  God's  Spirit  within  a  man  will  never 
guide  him  far  wrong.  Here  is  a  short  extract  from  one 
of  his  own  frank  expressions  upon  this  subject:  "I 
am  glad  to  know  by  you  and  Emerson,  and  others, 
living  and  dead,  that  my  unconditional  surrender  to 
Nature  has  produced  exactly  what  you  have  foreseen  — 
that,  drifting  without  human  charts  through  light 
and  dark,  calm  and  storm,  I  have  come  to  so  glorious  an 
ocean." 

2.  The  result  of  this  selection  was  a  concentration 
of  power  that  was  bound  to  produce  results.     Muir 
eliminated  all  distracting  influences.     He  subordinated 
his  desires  for  lesser  good  to  the  good  he  deemed 
highest  for  himself,  —  his  complete  abandon  to  a  study 
of  Nature. 

3.  Everything  he  did,  he  did  thoroughly.    He  was  a 
born  questioner.     What  people  said  and  believed  was 
"  so  "  did  not  necessarily  make  it  so.    Muir  was  a  phi- 


356  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

losopher.  He  reasoned  that  as  errors  have  been  made 
by  taking  things  for  granted  in  the  past,  such  errors 
will  continue  to  be  made,  and,  therefore,  in  his  moun- 
tain and  glacier  work  he  would  question  everything, 
and  then  demand  an  answer.  This  meant  a  steady, 
persistent  thoroughness,  a  resolute  patience  that  tries 
and  tests  men.  It  does  more,  too.  If  they  stand  the 
test  it  develops  them.  And  so  Muir  was  developed. 
You  cannot  determine  the  flow  of  glacial  ice  in  a  day, 
or  a  week,  or  a  month,  or  a  year.  You  cannot  resolve 
questions  of  geology  in  an  hour.  Theories  are  not 
changed  into  scientific  certainties  by  chance.  Let 
Muir  tell  in  one  of  his  letters  how  he  studied  glaciers 
and  came  to  his  conclusions.  Says  he:  "  Although  I 
was  myself  thus  fully  satisfied  concerning  the  real 
nature  of  these  ice  masses  I  found  that  my  friends  re- 
garded my  deductions  and  statements  with  distrust, 
therefore  I  determined  to  collect  proofs  of  the  common 
measured  arithmetical  kind. 

"  On  the  2ist  of  August  last,  I  planted  five  stakes  in 
the  glacier  of  Mt.  McClure,  which  is  situated  east  of 
Yosemite  Valley  near  the  summit  of  the  range.  Four 
of  these  stakes  were  extended  across  the  glacier  in  a 
straight  line,  from  the  east  side  to  a  point  near  the 
middle  of  the  glacier.  The  first  stake  was  planted 
about  twenty-five  yards  from  the  east  bank  of  the 
glacier,  the  second  ninety-four  yards,  the  third  one 
hundred  and  fifty-two,  and  the  fourth  two  hundred  and 
twenty-five  yards.  The  positions  of  these  stakes  were 
determined  by  sighting  across  from  bank  to  bank  past 
a  plumbline  made  of  a  stone  and  a  black  horse  hair. 


JOHN  MUIR  357 

On  observing  my  stakes  on  the  sixth  of  October,  or 
in  twenty-six  days  after  being  planted,  I  found  that 
stake  No.  i  had  been  carried  down  stream  eleven  inches, 
No.  2  eighteen  inches,  No.  3,  thirty-four,  No.  4,  forty- 
seven  inches. 

"  As  stake  No.  4  was  near  the  middle  of  the  glacier, 
perhaps  it  was  not  far  from  the  point  of  maximum 
velocity,  forty-seven  inches  in  forty-six  days  or  one  inch 
per  day. 

"  Stake  No.  5  was  planted  about  midway  between  the 
head  of  the  glacier  and  stake  No.  4.  Its  motion  I  found 
to  be  in  forty- six  days  forty  inches.  Thus  these  ice 
masses  are  seen  to  possess  the  true  glacial  mo- 
tion. Their  surfaces  are  striped  with  bent  dirt  bands. 
These  surfaces  are  bulged  and  undulated  by  inequal- 
ities in  the  bottom  of  their  basins  causing  an  up- 
ward and  downward  swedging  corresponding  to  the 
horizontal  swedging  as  indicated  by  the  curved  dirt 
bands. 

"  The  Mt.  McClure  Glacier  is  about  one-half  mile 
in  length  and  about  the  same  in  width  at  the  broadest 
place. 

"  It  is  crevassed  on  the  southeast  corner ;  the  crev- 
asse runs  about  southwest  and  northeast  and  is  several 
hundred  yards  in  length.  Its  width  is  nowhere  more 
than  one  foot  in  width. 

"  The  Mt.  Lyell  Glacier,  separated  from  that  of 
McClure  by  a  narrow  crest,  is  about  a  mile  in  width 
by  a  mile  in  length." 

4.  From  this  and  other  of  his  letters  it  is  evident  that 
no  second-hand  knowledge  was  ever  of  service  to  him. 


358  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

He  learned  everything  at  first  hand.  The  world  is 
deluged  to-day  with  Nature  books.  But  no  man  knows 
Nature  who  only  reads  about  her.  He  must  live  with 
her,  personally  commune  with  her.  Muir  having  done 
so  for  many  years,  his  words,  when  he  either  writes 
or  speaks,  have  weight.  When  he  first  began  to  tell 
of  what  he  had  discovered  of  the  living  glaciers  in  the 
Sierra  Nevada,  the  scientists  laughed  at  the  presump- 
tion of  a  "  sheepherder  "  to  question  the  determina- 
tions of  such  great  scientists  as  Whitney,  King,  Le 
Conte,  and  Hoffman.  These  men  knew  there  were  no 
living  glaciers  in  the  Sierras.  They  knew  the  Yo- 
semite  Valley  was  formed  by  a  great  cataclysm  which 
had  split  open  three  thousand  feet  of  solid  granite 
and  yawned  so  vastly  that  the  bed  of  the  valley  had 
dropped  in  to  that  depth.  Who  was  Muir,  that  he  dare 
challenge  these  long-accepted  theories  of  the  scientists  ? 
Muir  was  nothing,  save  in  that  he  was  the  human  in- 
strument of  careful  observation,  thorough  reflection, 
and  accurate  recording  of  the  facts;  and  he  lived  to  see 
every  scientist  in  the  world  hastening  to  declare  his 
belief  that  he  was  right  and  his  fellow-scientists  of  the 
past  wrong. 

Muir  never  would  have  changed  the  knowledge  of 
the  world  from  error  to  truth  had  he  been  content  to 
accept  other  people's  ideas.  He  must  know  for  him- 
self. And  thus  must  every  person  do  who  would  really 
know.  This  lesson  Muir  learned  early  and  has  taught 
grandly  to  the  world.  The  slow  accumulation  of  facts, 
the  resolute  hunting  down  of  an  idea,  the  persistent 
determination  that  things  must  prove  themselves  ere 


JOHN    MUIR  359 

he  accepted  them,  ultimately  made  of  him  a  great 
scientist. 

5.  Nor  is  this  all  that  Nature  made  of  Muir.  She 
made  him  a  poet  and  a  man  of  power.  To  many  people 
these  two  things  do  not  harmonize  —  poetry  and  power. 
Yet  every  true  poet  is  a  man  of  power.  The  poet  is 
one  who  sees  and  knows,  who  understands  and  inter- 
prets. Power  is  not  always  measured  by  pounds  and 
tons,  kilowatts  and  other  material  indications.  The 
power  of  initial  thought  can  seldom  be  measured  or 
estimated,  yet  one  thought  properly  given  has  some- 
times changed  the  whole  current  of  history.  The  power 
of  thought  is  well  seen  in  the  lives  and  works  of  such 
men  as  Luther,  Mahomet,  Patrick  Henry,  Lincoln, 
Herbert  Spencer,  Darwin  and  Muir.  And  in  no  way 
does  one  lose  power  in  becoming  a  poet.  The  poet  is 
one  who  sees  below  the  actual  or  material  surfaces 
of  things,  and  understands  their  spirit,  then  has  the 
ability  to  tell  what  he  sees  in  the  most  perfect  way,  so 
that  you  also  see.  The  poet,  then,  is  an  enlarger  of  other 
people's  visions.  He  broadens,  widens,  deepens, 
heightens  their  outlook  upon  the  things  that  surround 
them.  Is  this  an  occupation  unworthy  the  energies  of 
the  manliest  of  men?  Nay,  but  rather  should  all  men 
seek  to  be  poets  if  thereby  they  might  heighten  the  joy 
of  living  in  themselves  and  their  neighbors.  It  is  the 
poet  in  them  that  makes  of  men  artists,  painters, 
sculptors,  architects,  writers.  And  according  as  they 
get  their  inspiration  so  is  their  power.  The  man  who 
gets  his  inspiration  from  Nature,  from  the  basic  things, 
from  the  primitive  sources,  is  filled  with  a  basic,  primi- 


360  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

live  power  that  is  dominating,  overwhelming.  Such 
was  the  power  of  Michael  Angelo,  of  Shakspere,  of 
Millet,  of  Rodin.  Such  is  the  power  of  Muir.  Such 
power  is  for  all  time;  it  lasts  as  long  as  man  lasts.  It  is 
permanent,  because  the  good  in  human  nature  is 
permanent,  persistent,  divine. 


CHAPTER   XXXIII 

THE  TENDER   HEROINE    OF    INDIAN    FRIEND- 
SHIP,   HELEN    HUNT   JACKSON 

T T 7HEN  the  pioneers  came  to  California,  they  found 
*  *  many  Indians  living  hi  dug-outs  hi  the  sides  of 
the  mountains,  or  hi  the  rudest  kind  of  mud  houses, 
so  they  called  them  Diggers  and  wrote  home  that  they 
were  the  most  degraded  and  worthless  human  beings 
they  had  ever  seen  or  known.  Even  those  who  thought 
they  knew  something  of  them,  and  studied  them,  came 
to  the  conclusion  that  they  were  a  good-for-nothing, 
wretched,  useless  race,  cumbering  the  earth,  and  that 
the  sooner  the}*  could  be  gotten  rid  of  the  better.  In 
time  a  saying  became  as  common  here  as  it  was  else- 
where, viz.,  "  the  only  good  Indian  is  the  dead  In- 
dian," and  many  white  people  quoted  this  as  a  justifi- 
cation for  all  kinds  of  evil  and  dishonest  treatment 
of  the  Indian.  Throughout  the  whole  country  there 
were  but  few  to  defend  this  helpless  race,  and  those 
who  did  were  berated  for  their  waste  of  sympathy. 
The  cruelties  of  the  Indians  hi  warfare  were  brought 
up,  their  occasional  outbreaks,  and  the  murder,  with 
atrocious  details,  of  helpless  women  and  children.  But 
it  was  overlooked  and  forgotten  that  these  outbreaks 
were  caused,  in  every  case,  by  the  wicked  and  cruel 
treatment  the  Indians  had  received  at  the  hands  of 


362  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

white  men.  On  every  hand  this  treatment  was  common. 
From  the  government  down  to  the  meanest  hunter, 
miner  and  squatter,  no  one  felt  that  the  Indian  had 
any  rights  that  needed  to  be  respected.  We  wanted 
the  land  the  Indians  roamed  oyer,  we  wanted  the  forests 
they  lived  in  during  the  summer,  we  wanted  the  game 
they  hunted  for  food,  we  wanted  the  streams  in  which 
they  fished,  we  wanted  springs,  especially  in  the  desert 
and  arid  regions,  from  which  they  secured  water 
for  themselves  and  their  flocks  and  herds;  indeed 
we  wanted  everything  they  possessed  that  we  thought 
we  could  use,  for  were  we  not  "  the  superior  race," 
and  had  not  God  given  to  us  this  great  country  to  use 
simply  and  solely  for  our  own  benefit? 

What  to  us  was  the  doctrine  of  the  Fatherhood  of 
God  ?  What  cared  we  about  the  brotherhood  of  man  ? 
Those  doctrines  applied  only  to  our  own  race,  our 
own  people;  and  these  Indians  were  .bronze-skinned 
and  only  "  savages."  Because  they  were  bronze- 
skinned  and  wore  the  rude  robes  of  their  forefathers, 
the  dressed  pelts  of  animals;  because  they  did  not 
herd  themselves  in  cities,  in  crowded  streets  and  tene- 
ment and  apartment  houses,  and  build  hotels  and 
court-houses  and  churches  in  which  to  live  and  practise 
"  law  "  one  upon  another,  and  have  some  one  teach 
them  "  religion,"  they  were  necessarily  "  heathen " 
and  lawless  and  religionless.  Hence  why  spare  them? 
They  were  dreadfully  insistent  at  times  that  they  had 
"  rights."  They  didn't  like  to  have  their  springs 
taken  away;  they  resented  being  told  that  they  must 
no  longer  hunt  over  the  plains  where  their  ancestors  had 


HELEN   HUNT  JACKSON  363 

hunted  before  ever  a  white  man  trod  the  continent; 
they  resisted  when  they  were  driven  from  their  corn- 
fields by  civilized  white  men.  They  had  the  impu- 
dence to  be  angry  when  members  of  this  great,  noble, 
and  Christian  white  race  corrupted  their  wives  and 
daughters.  They  were  foolish  and  simple-hearted 
enough  to  expect  white  men  —  especially  officers  of  the 
army  and  government  —  to  speak  the  truth  when  they 
pledged  their  words  of  honor,  even  in  solemn  treaty, 
that  they  —  the  Indians  —  should  be  protected  in  all  the 
rights  they  had  enjoyed  from  time  immemorial.  Their 
old  men  thought  they  were  patriotic  when  they  pleaded 
with  the  representatives  of  the  white  race  to  prohibit 
the  selling  of  alcoholic  liquors  to  their  young  men  and 
their  women;  they  saw  the  havoc  the  deadly  fire- 
water was  causing  and  wished  to  stay  its  insidious 
influence;  but  we  were  a  great  commercial  nation  and 
could  not  interfere  with  the  vested  interests  of  our 
brewers  and  whisky  distillers,  simply  to  please  a  few 
"  brutal,  ignorant "  savages."  What  did  the  ruin 
of  the  bodies  —  never  mind  the  souls  —  of  a  few 
thousands  of  Indians  amount  to,  compared  with  the 
commercial  interests  of  "  our  great  and  wonderful 
country  ?  "  The  Indians  had  a  kind  of  an  idea  that  the 
land  they  had  used  for  centuries  belonged  to  them, 
but  it  was  left  for  a  California  court  of  justice  — 
confirmed  by  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  State  and 
afterwards  by  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States 
—  to  show  them  the  foolishness  of  such  an  idea. 

Helen  Hunt  Jackson  saw  all  these  things,  and  being 
a  good  and  noble  woman,  with  red  blood  coursing 


364  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

through  her  heart,  and  ability  to  use  her  own  brain, 
regardless  of  what  others  said,  she  came  to  the  con- 
clusion that  no  matter  what  we  called  ourselves,  or  the 
Indians,  our  conduct  towards  them  wras  not  Christian, 
was  not  honest,  was  not  true,  was  not  civilized,  was  not 
anything,  in  fact,  that  was  good,  decent,  honorable 
and  commendable,  but,  on  the  other  hand,  was  fiendish, 
monstrous  and  cruel  in  the  extreme. 

In  this  she  was  not  alone.  There  were  large  num- 
bers of  men  and  women  in  the  land  who  had  discovered 
the  same  things,  and  some  of  them  were  trying  to  stem 
the  tide  of  evil  treatment  of  our  helpless  wards.  But 
Mrs.  Jackson  had  not  only  a  large  heart,  she  had  a 
clear  brain  and  a  determined  soul,  and  she  swore  a 
large  oath  that,  God  helping  her,  she  would  do  some- 
thing that  should  help  stop  these  great  wrongs. 

First  she  wrote  a  book  entitled  The  Century  of  Dis- 
honor, w-hich  recited  our  government's  wicked  treat- 
ment of  the  Indian  in  the  open  and  cruel  violation  of 
treaties;  and  she  gave  "  chapter  and  verse  "  of  these 
treaties  and  quoted  government  officials'  reports  to  show 
the  grievous  wrongs  that  constantly  were  being  com- 
mitted. 

This  book  produced  somewhat  of  a  sensation,  but 
it  was  as  a  handful  of  sand  thrown  into  the  ocean. 
This  aroused  her  to  see  that  something  more  must  be 
done.  Enough  had  been  said  to  prepare  the  country 
for  her  message,  and  she  began  to  give  it  in  clear, 
womanly  tones,  yet  insistently,  forcefully,  and  relent- 
lessly. Her  mind  was  keenly  logical;  she  was  an 
indefatigable  and  tireless  worker;  she  saw  what  the 


HELEN   HUNT  JACKSON  365 

people  ought  to  know,  and  her  literary  gift  enabled 
her  so  to  set  things  forth  that  she  had  the  open  sesame 
to  many  powerful  and  influential  papers.  Her  en- 
thusiasm was  unbounded,  and  she  compelled  atten- 
tion by  the  seriousness  of  her  charges,  the  logical 
ability  with  which  she  prepared  them,  and  the  per- 
sistence with  which  she  pressed  them.  Evaded  on  a 
point,  she  brought  the  evader's  attention  to  it  from 
another  standpoint.  She  compelled  a  complete  reve- 
lation of  the  hands  of  the  officials;  they  shuffled  and 
quibbled,  shirked  and  tried  to  elude,  but,  with  a  power 
no  one  ever  dreamed  her  to  possess,  she  led  them  on 
to  unmask  their  batteries,  disclose  their  secret  pol- 
icies, and  either  defend  or  abandon  them.  Her  con- 
troversy with  Carl  Schurz,  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior, 
is  as  interesting  as  the  combat  between  an  able  lawyer 
and  an  equally  able  witness;  and  when  she  had  forced 
him  clearly  to  declare  his  attitude,  she  did  not  hesitate, 
with  equal  clearness,  either  to  condemn  or  have  it 
condemned  by  the  leaders  of  the  New  York  press. 

Here,  then,  is  the  woman,  who,  in  1882,  came  to 
Southern  California  to  study  on  the  ground  itself  the 
Franciscan  Missions  and  the  Indians  for  whom  they 
had  been  founded.  Her  careful  researches  made  in 
the  Astor  Library,  New  York,  in  1880,  had  informed 
her  of  some  of  the  wrongs  perpetrated  upon  them, 
and  with  a  heart  fired  by  the  constant  injustices  done 
to  Indians  generally,  who  were  denied  by  "  the  powers 
that  be  "  any  standing  in  court,  and  were  therefore 
at  the  mercy  of  all  the  hangers-on  and  politician- 
vultures  who  sought  to  fatten  on  their  very  flesh  and 


366  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

blood,  she  was  ready  to  take  up  their  case  just  as  soon 
as  its  urgency  was  made  clear  to  her. 

The  Century  Magazine  had  given  her  a  commission 
to  write  a  series  of  articles,  —  what,  they  hardly  knew, 
save  that  they  were  to  be  on  the  Missions  and  the 
Indians  of  California,  and  with  characteristic  energy 
and  clear-sightedness  she  began  to  go  right  to  the 
heart  of  the  subject. 

She  secured  letters  to  the  Catholic  bishop  and 
priests  who  might  be  able  to  help  her ;  she  made  friends 
with  old  Spanish  families  and  sought  their  aid;  she 
visited  the  Missions  themselves,  and  in  the  spell  of 
their  presence  sought  to  live  again  in  the  time  of  their 
greatest  activities.  She  consulted  original  records 
and  gathered  a  vast  fund  of  information,  which  she 
transmitted  into  delightfully  interesting  literature  in 
her  Century  articles.  First  she  wrote  about  Junipero 
Serra  and  the  Missions  he  and  his  successors  founded 
and  conducted.  Then  she  took  up  the  existent  con- 
ditions of  the  Mission  Indians. 

What  she  then  saw  led  her  to  resolve  to  attempt 
to  move  the  government  to  do  something,  honestly 
and  really,  not  by  mere  resolutions  and  reports  and 
red  tape  and  verbal  flimflam,  but  by  action,  to  preserve 
to  these  poor  creatures  some  portion  of  the  homes  that 
were  "  legally  "  being  wrested  from  them. 

Accordingly,  on  July  7,  1882,  she  was  instructed 
by  the  Indian  Department,  "  to  visit  the  Mission 
Indians  of  California,  and  ascertain  the  location  and 
condition  of  the  various  bands;  whether  suitable 
land  in  their  vicinity,  belonging  to  the  public  domain, 


HELEN   HUNT  JACKSON  367 

could  be  made  available  as  a  permanent  home  for 
such  of  those  Indians  as  were  not  established  upon 
reservations,  and  what,  if  any,  lands  should  be  pur- 
chased for  their  use." 

She  visited  the  various  tribes  in  company  with  the 
Hon.  Abbott  Kinney,  —  later  known  as  the  founder 
of  Venice,  a  beautiful  seaside  resort  near  Los  Angeles, 
—  and  made  her  report  to  the  government,  but,  to  her 
amazement,  next  to  nothing  was  done.  Then  she  saw 
that  her  appeal  must  be  a  direct  one  to  the  hearts  of 
the  American  people.  She  realized  that  politicians 
would  do  little  or  nothing  unless  compelled  to  act  by 
the  direct  demand  of  their  constituents,  so,  fired  to 
the  very  depths  of  her  heart,  she  determined  to  write  a 
novel,  —  a  book  that  should  compel  attention  and  teach 
Americans  that  Indians  were  human  beings  as  capable 
of  high  emotions,  of  beautiful  ideals,  of  noble  lives  as 
they  themselves  were.  November  8,  1883,  sne  wrote 
the  following  letter  from  Colorado  Springs  (her  home), 
to  two  of  her  Spanish  friends  in  Los  Angeles,  who  had 
taken  her  to  their  hearts  and  aided  her  in  her  research 
work  among  the  Indians: 

"  My  dear  Friends,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Coronel :  I  send 
you  herewith  the  very  bad  picture  of  myself,  which  I 
think  you  will  wish  you  had  never  seen.  If  you  do, 
you  are  quite  at  liberty  to  burn  it  up. 

"  I  had  forgotten  that  I  paid  you  the  five  dollars 
for  the  work  done  by  the  Indian  woman.  Keep  it,  if 
you  please;  there  may  be  something  to  come  from 
Father  Ubach  to  pay  expressage  on,  or  there  may  be  a 


368  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

box  to  be  made  to  hold  all  my  stone  mortars,  etc., 
which  Mr.  Bliss  is  going  to  get  for  me  one  of  these  years. 
It  may  be  well  for  you  to  have  a  little  money  of  mine 
on  hand  to  meet  these  possible  charges.  I  have  asked 
Father  Ubach  to  send  to  me  in  your  care  the  old 
looking-glass  frame  which  I  forgot  to  put  into  the  box 
he  sent  here;  it  was  really  one  of  the  things  I  cared 
most  for  of  all  the  relics  promised  me,  and  I  was  ex- 
ceedingly sorry  to  forget  it.  He,  however,  did  much 
to  atone  for  this  by  putting  into  the  box  a  piece  of  one 
of  the  old  olive  trees  from  the  San  Diego  Mission.  I 
shall  present  part  of  it  to  Archbishop  Corrigan.  I 
think  he  will  value  a  piece  of  one  of  the  fruit  trees 
planted  by  Father  Junipero.  I  am  sure  you  will  have 
rejoiced  at  the  removal  of  Lawson  from  the  agency  of 
the  Mission  Indians.  I  hope  the  new  man  will  prove 
better;  he  hardly  can  prove  worse.  I  wish  we  could 
have  selected  the  new  agent  ourselves;  but  it  was  a 
political  appointment,  of  which  we  knew  nothing  until 
it  was  all  settled.  Our  report  has  been  favorably 
received,  and  its  recommendations  will  be  incorporated 
in  a  bill  before  Congress  this  winter.  I  hope  the  bill 
will  pass.  But  I  know  too  much  of  Washington  to  be 
sanguine.  However,  if  we  had  accomplished  nothing 
more  than  the  securing  the  appointment  of  Brunson 
&  Wells,  Los  Angeles,  as  United  States  attorneys,  to 
protect  the  Indians'  rights  to  lands,  that  would  be 
matter  of  gratitude.  I  suppose  you  have  heard  of 
that  appointment.  I  hope  through  their  means  to 
save  the  Saboba  village,  San  Jacinto,  from  being 
turned  out  of  their  home.  Now,  I  am  as  usual  asking 


HELEN   HUNT  JACKSON  369 

help.  I  will  tell  you  what  my  next  work  for  the  In- 
dians is  to  be. 

"  I  am  going  to  write  a  novel,  in  which  will  be  set  forth 
some  Indian  experiences  in  a  way  to  move  people's 
hearts.  People  will  read  a  novel  when  they  will  not 
read  serious  books.  The  scenes  of  the  novel  will  be 
in  Southern  California,  and  I  shall  introduce  enough  of 
Mexicans  and  Americans  to  give  it  variety.  The  thing 
I  want  most,  in  the  way  of  help,  from  you,  is  this:  I 
would  like  an  account,  written  in  as  much  detail  as  you 
remember,  of  the  time  when  you,  dear  Mr.  Coronel, 
went  to  Temecula  and  marked  off  the  boundaries  of 
the  Indians'  land  there.  How  many  Indians  were 
living  there  then  ?  What  crops  had  they  ?  Had  they  a 
chapel?  etc.  Was  Pablo  Assis,  their  chief,  alive? 
I  would  like  to  know  his  whole  history,  life,  death,  and 
all,  minutely.  The  Temecula  ejectment  will  be  one 
of  the  episodes  in  my  story,  and  any  and  every  detail 
in  connection  with  it  will  be  of  value  to  me.  I  shall 
also  use  the  San  Pasquale  Pueblo  History,  and  I  have 
written  to  Father  Ubach  and  to  Mr.  Morse,  of  San 
Diego,  for  their  reminiscences.  You  and  they  are 
the  only  persons  to  whom  I  have  spoken  of  my  pur- 
pose of  writing  the  novel,  and  I  do  not  wish  anything 
said  about  it.  I  shall  keep  it  a  secret  until  the  book 
is  about  done. 

"  I  hope  very  much  that  I  can  succeed  in  writ- 
ing a  story  which  will  help  to  increase  the  interest 
already  so  much  aroused  at  the  East  in  the  Indian 
question. 

"  If  you  think   of  any  romantic  incidents,   either 


370  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

Mexican  or  Indian,  which  you  think  would  work  well 
into  a  story  of  Southern  California  life,  please  write 
them  out  for  me.  I  wish  I  had  had  this  plan  in  my 
mind  last  year  when  I  was  in  Los  Angeles.  I  would 
have  taken  notes  of  many  interesting  things  you  told 
me.  But  it  is  only  recently,  since  writing  out  for  our 
report  the  full  accounts  of  the  different  bands  of  Indians 
there,  that  I  have  felt  that  I  dared  undertake  the 
writing  of  a  long  story. 

"  I  am  going  to  New  York  in  a  few  days,  and  shall 
be  busily  at  work  there  all  winter  on  my  story.  My 
address  will  be,  '  The  Berkeley,'  corner  Fifth  Avenue 
and  Ninth  Street. 

"  I  hope  you  are  all  well,  and  enjoying  the  same  sun- 
shine as  last  year.  Mr.  Jackson  is  well,  and  would 
send  his  regards  if  he  were  at  home. 

"  Yours,  always  cordially, 

"  HELEN  JACKSON." 

When  once  this  thought  of  writing  a  novel  had 
entered  her  mind,  she  was  totally  absorbed  by  it.  Every 
energy  was  bent  towards  its  accomplishment.  All 
her  fervor,  literary  ability,  powers  of  research,  observa- 
tion and  enthusiasm  were  harnessed  in  the  one  cause. 
Her  researches  had  given  her  a  wonderful  familiarity 
with  all  the  details,  so  picturesque,  so  unusual,  so 
pathetic,  so  romantic,  for  the  details  of  the  book,  and 
her  life  of  travel  and  writing  about  what  she  had  seen 
rendered  her  peculiarly  fitted  to  set  forth  the  exquisite 
beauty  and  grandeur  of  Southern  California  as  the 
background  of  her  story.  Then,  too,  so  many  real 


HELEN   HUNT  JACKSON  371 

incidents  were  ready  to  her  hand  to  fit  into  the  novel. 
These  she  gathered  from  every  available  source.  Don 
Antonio  Coronel  and  his  noble  wife  opened  up  the 
rich  treasure-house  of  their  well-stored  minds,  and  re- 
vealed the  deep  and  loving  sympathies  of  their  profound 
natures  and  poured  forth  facts  and  suggestions  innumer- 
able. 

From  Miss  Sheriff,  who  had  for  years  been  a  teacher 
at  Saboba,  Mrs.  Jackson  heard  the  story  of  the  slaying 
of  the  Indian,  Juan  Diego,  in  the  mountains  near  by, 
by  Sam  Temple,  who  accused  him  of  stealing  his  horse. 
Mrs.  Sheriff,  now  Mrs.  Fowler,  still  lives  at  San  Jacinto. 
From  Mrs.  Jordan,  who  was  personally  familiar  with 
all  the  facts,  she  heard  the  corroboration  of  the  story, 
learned  the  absolute  truth  of  Juan  Diego's  attacks  of 
"  loco,"  the  taking  of  Temple's  horse,  and  gained  the 
character  of  Aunt  Ri. 

From  Juan  Diego's  wife,  whose  actual  name  is 
Ramona  Lubo,  she  heard  the  story  of  how  Temple 
came  and  shot  down  her  husband  at  close  range  as  he 
came  out  of  their  little  cabin,  and  of  Ramona's  flight 
to  Cahuilla. 

From  Don  Antonio  and  certain  Los  Angeles  lawyers 
who  were  interested  in  the  Indians,  as  well  as  from 
the  government  records  and  the  lips  of  the  Indians 
themselves,  she  heard  of  the  evictions  at  Temecula 
and  San  Pasqual. 

With  her  literary  friends,  chiefly  Mrs.  Jeanne  C. 
Carr,  of  Pasadena,  she  consulted  freely  about  the 
story,  and  no  one  will  ever  be  able  to  estimate  the 
influence  Mrs.  Carr's  clear  mind,  artistic  conceptions, 


372  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

and  deep  loving  nature,  fully  given  over  to  the  In- 
dians, exercised  upon  the  growing  novel. 

All  that  was  now  needed  was  her  framework,  the 
skeleton  of  the  story,  the  plot.  She  had  studied  the 
Missions,  the  old  Spanish  days,  the  Indians  in  their 
humble  homes,  Southern  California  in  general,  as  no 
other  person  had  ever  done. 

She  created  the  plot  and  little  by  little  the  story 
assumed  shape.  Mrs.  Jackson  had  seen  enough  of 
Southern  California  to  have  absorbed  its  spirit,  its 
sunshine,  its  glowing  atmosphere,  and  now,  filled 
with  facts  about  the  Indians  over  which  she  had 
deeply  brooded,  until  they  had  become  vivid  pictures 
engraved  upon  her  very  soul,  she  began  to  write. 
Once  the  pen  was  in  her  hands,  a  divine  frenzy  seized 
her.  She  wrote  as  one  possessed.  Indeed  she  wrote 
to  her  publisher  that  it  was  only  the  physical  impos- 
sibility that  prevented  her  from  finishing  it  at  a  sitting, 
for,  said  she:  "I  have  the  whole  story  at  my  finger 
ends." 

Its  publication  formed  an  epoch.  When  it  appeared, 
in  1884,  many  critics  hailed  it  "  the  great  American 
novel."  Throbbing  with  emotion,  palpitant  with 
life,  vivid  in  its  picturing  of  all  the  scenes,  whether  of 
inanimate  or  animate  nature,  realistic  in  its  delinea- 
tions of  human  character,  sympathetic  in  its  dealings 
with  the  despised  and  downtrodden  Indians,  outspoken 
in  its  denunciation  of  the  wrongs  perpetrated  upon 
them;  recognized  at  once  as  an  authoritative  picture 
of  the  Spanish  California  life  of  the  time,  it  sprang  with 
a  bound  into  public  favor.  It  was  not  widely  heralded 


HELEN   HUNT  JACKSON  373 

by  advertising  as  a  great  novel,  but  it  won  its  way  by 
its  own  power.  Few,  indeed,  of  the  popular  novels  that 
are  "  the  greatest  sellers  "  for  a  few  weeks  or  months 
are  remembered  after  a  year  or  two  are  gone,  but 
Ramona  is  as  widely  read,  and  almost  as  widely  pur- 
chased to-day,  as  when  it  was  in  the  full  dawn  of 
its  first  popularity.  Only  the  other  day  I  stood  by 
the  desk  of  a  "  baggage  smasher  "  in  one  of  the  bag- 
gage rooms  of  a  railway  depot.  In  one  of  the  pigeon- 
holes, ready  at  hand  for  a  spare  moment  or  at  lunch- 
time,  was  a  well-worn  copy  of  Ramona.  "  That's 
the  bulliest  story  I  ever  read  in  my  life,"  said  the  rude- 
handed  son  of  toil,  in  response  to  my  comment.  And 
I  could  not  help  but  feel :  How  is  it  possible  for  one  to 
read  this  story  and  not  feel  its  humanizing  influence  ? 
Thus  the  good  work  goes  on.  The  book  is  a  constant 
missionary,  ever  silently,  but  potently,  preaching  the 
beautiful  doctrine  of  the  humanity  of  all  men,  regard- 
less of  the  color  of  their  skin,  and  the  Universal  Father- 
hood of  God. 


CHAPTER  XXXIV 

THE      PERSISTENT      HERO    OF      A     GREAT     HISTORY, 
HUBERT    HOWE  BANCROFT 

CALIFORNIA  and  the  Pacific  Coast  region  have  a 
history  more  varied,  more  strange,  and  more  ro- 
mantic, perhaps,  than  that  of  any  country  in  the  world. 
Speaking  for  California  alone,  during  the  sixty 
years  of  its  existence,  its  history  is  unequaled,  full 
of  dramatic  surprises,  changes  and  evolutions.  Origi- 
nally occupied  by  two  classes  of  Indians, —  the  peace- 
able fishers,  trappers,  hunters  and  basket-makers  of 
the  coast  and  interior  valleys,  and  the  more  warlike 
tribes  of  the  mountains,  —  prior  to  its  entry  into  the 
sisterhood  of  the  United  States,  it  had  several  important 
epochs.  First  came  that  of  Spanish  discovery,  then  its 
missionization  by  the  Franciscan  padres,  when  the 
striking  mission  buildings  were  erected,  followed 
by  its  separation  from  Spain,  its  government  as  a 
province  of  Mexico,  and  a  rather  large  influx  of  Ameri- 
can hunters,  trappers,  shippers  and  coast  traders. 
Then  came  the  military  invasion  of  Fremont,  Sloat, 
and  Kearny's  "  Army  of  the  West,"  the  seizure  from 
Mexico,  the  discovery  of  gold,  and  the  establishment 
of  a  State  government.  It  saw  its  mines  add  to  the  gold 
supply  of  the  world  fabulous  amounts  in  a  short  space 
of  time,  and  had  barely  settled  down  to  a  recognition 


HUBERT   HOWE   BANCROFT         375 

of  its  own  life  when  it  was  again  thrilled  through  and 
through  by  the  discovery  of  the  mines  of  the  Comstock 
Lode  in  Nevada.  It  occupied  a  unique  position  during 
the  Civil  War,  and  developed  the  overland  stage  lines 
and  pony  express  to  a  higher  degree  of  efficiency  than 
had  ever  before  been  known.  It  started  an  epidemic 
of  railroad  building  all  over  the  country  by  the  com- 
pletion of  its  transcontinental  railway,  and  quickened 
rapid  transit  in  many  cities  by  the  development  of  its 
cable  street-railways.  It  has  had  its  heroic  epoch  — 
the  days  when  cattlemen  were  its  kings  —  and  its 
pomological  and  agricultural  developments.  Its  growth 
in  irrigation  has  been  a  revelation  to  the  world,  and  its 
transformed  deserts  are  now  among  the  garden  spots 
of  Western  America.  Its  oil  discoveries,  and  the  use  of 
oil  for  fuel  in  houses,  manufactories,  and  steam  engines 
have  revolutionized  the  fuel  problem  on  the  Coast, 
and  made  possible  wonderful  advancement  in  manu- 
facturing. Its  scenic  and  climatic  environment  has 
been  an  increasingly  potent  factor  in  its  attractiveness 
to  settlers  from  all  parts  of  the  world,  and,  in  con- 
clusion, it  has  developed  a  civilization  peculiarly  its 
own,  which  is  destined  to  influence  the  future  history 
of  the  world  far  more  than  its  most  far-seeing  prophets 
realize. 

Naturally  the  written  records  of  a  country  grow 
scarcer  and  more  valuable  the  further  Time  carries 
back  the  hour  of  their  occurrence,  while  the  unwritten 
history  of  the  participants  in  any  particular  epoch  can 
be  obtained  only  while  they  are  still  alive. 

To  undertake  to  gather  these  written  records,  pub- 


376  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

lished  and  unpublished  (the  latter  found  in  private  or 
official  documents,  often  of  the  highest  value),  and  to 
collect  the  many  personal  and  unwritten  stories,  was 
a  task  that  might  have  engaged  the  undivided  attention 
of  a  government  bureau,  with  unlimited  means  at 
its  disposal,  and  a  large  band  of  trained  experts  under 
its  control. 

But  this  work  was  left  for  an  ordinary  business  man, 
a  publisher  and  seller  of  books,  a  man  who  made  no 
pretension  to  expertness  in  gathering  historical  material 
and  who  had  no  literary  training,  but  who  had  the 
perspicacity  to  clearly  perceive  the  urgent  need  of  the 
case,  and  who  had  the  daring  and  patriotism  to  say: 
"  Since  no  one  of  the  many  who  are  qualified,  financially 
and  intellectually,  to  accomplish  this  needful  work 
seem  disposed  to  undertake  it,  I  will  do  my  best  at  it, 
even  though  I  fail  in  the  attempt."  Failure,  however, 
was  not  destined  for  such  men  as  Hubert  Howe  Ban- 
croft. He  called  upon  his  subordinates  to  gather  every- 
thing bearing  upon  California  history  of  every  nature. 
Nothing  was  too  great,  nothing  too  small  to  be  ignored. 
Slowly  and  then  more  rapidly  the  material  grew.  The 
area  of  the  field  also  grew,  for  it  was  found  that  Cali- 
fornia was  inextricably  connected  with  Mexico,  the 
north  Mexican  States,  the  Pacific  States,  Arizona,  New 
Mexico,  and  Utah,  until,  instead  of  covering  one  State, 
twenty  had  to  be  considered. 

Look  well  at  this  man,  at  the  time  of  this  determina- 
tion, and  see  if  he  is  not  a  true  hero.  An  ordinary 
business  man,  with  little, or  no  literary  training  or  ex- 
perience, whose  whole  life  had  been  spent  in  the  ardu- 


HUBERT   HOWE   BANCROFT        377 

ous  labors  of  guiding  and  directing  a  rapidly  growing 
bookselling,  printing  and  publishing  business,  for 
which  he  had  to  make  the  capital  as  he  went  along. 
Even  had  he  done  the  work  poorly  and  inadequately 
he  would  have  deserved  the  laurel  wreath  with  the 
applause  not  only  of  his  compeers  but  of  the  studious 
of  his  State  and  nation  for  all  time.  But  he  did  not 
do  it  poorly.  The  necessities  of  the  case  led  him  to 
innovations  in  history-writing  that  have  subjected 
him  to  much  and  severe  criticism,  yet  the  prime  purpose 
was  accomplished  and  well  accomplished.  He  gave 
to  the  world  as  the  result  of  his  efforts  and  those  of  his 
co-workers  thirty-nine  volumes,  which  present  in  read- 
able, historic  form  —  and  much  of  it  with  literary 
fluency  and  grace  —  the  varied  and  stirring  history  of 
this  great  region.  As  the  years  go  by,  the  stupendous 
vastness  of  his  work  and  the  wisdom  of  his  methods 
in  its  accomplishment  will  be  the  more  recognized 
and  appreciated. 

Hubert  Howe  Bancroft  was  born  in  Granville,  Ohio, 
May  5,  1832,  of  Ashley  Bancroft  and  Lucy  Howe,  the 
fourth  in  a  family  of  six  children.  To  the  hard  work 
of  the  farm  as  well  as  to  an  excellent  heredity  he  freely 
attributes  the  sturdy  physique  and  ability  to  work  hard 
that  has  been  his  endowment  through  life. 

When  the  California  gold  excitement  broke  out, 
Bancroft's  father  left  for  the  gold  fields,  and  a  year 
later,  December,  1851,  the  future  historian  decided  to 
follow  him,  with  a  consignment  of  bocks  and  station- 
ery, with  which  he  would  enter  into  business.  There 
was  no  intention  in  his  mind  at  this  time  to  make  Cali- 


378  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

fornia  his  permanent  residence,  but  though  he  jour- 
neyed back  and  forth  eleven  times  over  the  Panama 
route,  prior  to  the  building  of  the  transcontinental  rail- 
way, he  always  returned  to  the  land  with  which  he 
was  afterwards  to  become  so  remarkably  identified. 

When  he  finally  decided  to  settle  down  to  business 
hi  California  it  was  not  long  before  he  began  to  build 
up  the  great  business  which  afterwards  afforded  the 
sinews  of  war  for  the  life-work  in  which  he  engaged. 
As  a  business  man  and  money-maker  he  was  a 
marked  success,  and  in  sixteen  years  it  was  acknowl- 
edged that  his  business,  which  now  included  the  manu- 
facturing and  publishing  as  well  as  the  selling  of 
books,  was  one  of-  the  largest  not  only  in  the  West 
but  in  the  world. 

He  was  not  yet  forty  years  old;  he  had  acquired  a 
competency,  and  it  was  natural  that  with  his  restless 
and  unconsciously  ambitious  temperament  he  should 
turn  his  attention  to  some  larger  and  more  important 
field.  For  ten  years  or  more  this  field  had  slowly  been  in 
a  state  of  preparation  for  him.  It  all  arose  from  a  re- 
quest by  one  of  his  employees,  Mr.  William  H.  Knight, 
for  certain  books  on  California  and  the  West,  which  he 
needed  for  a  Handbook  he  was  then  engaged  in  pre- 
paring. These  books  were  placed  by  Mr.  Knight  on 
shelves  near  his  desk,  and  as  they  accumulated,  the  idea 
of  forming  a  collection  of  Western  material  slowly 
evolved  itself  in  Mr.  Bancroft's  mind.  Herein  was  the 
germ  of  the  great  library  that  afterwards  made  possible 
the  greater  history.  Begun  casually,  it  soon  became 
a  hobby,  a  personal  pastime,  though  in  it  all,  at  first, 


HUBERT   HOWE   BANCROFT         379 

was  a  business  man's  idea,  held  vaguely,  that,  as  a  col- 
lection, it  could  readily  be  sold  to  some  library  or  other 
institution. 

In  1862  it  amounted  to  about  a  thousand  volumes, 
and  Mr.  Bancroft  began  to  feel  satisfied  that  he  had 
about  completed  his  labors,  when  he  made  a  visit  to 
Europe.  Here  his  eyes  were  opened,  and  he  discovered 
that  when  he  had  multiplied  his  books  by  five  instead 
of  completing  his  collection  he  had  but  begun.  Then 
the  real  passion  took  hold  of  him,  and  in  1866  he 
returned  to  Europe,  made  a  historical  survey  of  the 
field,  and,  for  the  first  time,  realized  that  a  collection  of 
books  on  California  must  necessarily  include  Mexico 
and  all  the  larger  Pacific  Coast  territory,  including 
Arizona,  New  Mexico,  Colorado,  Utah,  Wyoming,  and 
the  whole  Northwest. 

London,  Paris,  Burgos,  Madrid  were  in  turn  visited 
and  explored  for  treasures.  The  search  continued 
through  Italy,  Switzerland,  Germany,  Austria,  Holland 
and  back  to  Paris  and  London.  "  Everywhere  I  found 
something  and  seized  upon  it,  however  insignificant, 
for  I  had  long  since  ceased  to  resist  the  malady.  Often 
have  I  taken  a  cab  or  a  carriage  to  drive  me  from  stall 
to  stall  all  day,  without  obtaining  more  than  perhaps 
three  or  four  books  or  pamphlets,  for  which  I  paid  a 
shilling  or  a  franc  apiece.  Then  again  I  would  light 
upon  a  valuable  manuscript  which  relieved  my  pocket  to 
the  extent  of  three,  five,  or  eight  hundred  dollars." 

When  ten  thousand  volumes  had  been  collected, 
he  felt  sure  his  collection  must  be  reasonably  complete, 
when  one  day  there  came  a  pamphlet  in  his  mail,  which 


380  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

proved  to  be  a  catalogue  of  seven  thousand  books  direct 
from  Mexico.  "  A  new  light  broke  in  upon  me.  I  had 
never  considered  that  Mexico  had  been  printing  books 
for  three  and  a  quarter  centuries  —  one  hundred  years 
longer  than  Massachusetts  —  and  that  the  earlier  works 
were  seldom  seen  floating  about  book-stalls  and  auction- 
rooms."  The  history  of  this  particular  collection  was 
romantic  in  the  extreme,  and  the  value  of  the  books 
no  less  marked  than  their  story  was  interesting.  It 
was  impossible  for  Mr.  Bancroft  to  reach  Leipsic, 
where  they  were  to  be  sold,  in  time  for  the  auction. 
Says  he:  "  Shutting  my  eyes  to  the  consequences,  I 
telegraphed  my  agent  in  London  five  thousand  dollars 
earnest  money,  with  instructions  to  attend  the  sale  and 
purchase  at  his  discretion."  The  result  was  that  three 
thousand  of  the  volumes  offered  were  bought  and 
shipped  to  San  Francisco. 

That  same  year  another  valuable  collection  was 
bought,  and  this  was  but  the  beginning  of  library 
buying  on  a  large  scale.  The  list  of  important  pur- 
chases alone  would  fill  every  page  of  this  chapter  and 
yet  be  incomplete.  In  1880  he  bought  at  one  sale  — • 
that  of  the  Ramirez  library — nearly  thirty  thousand 
dollars'  worth  of  most  valuable  books,  without  which 
his  later  work  would  have  been  impossible. 

The  gathering  of  the  personal  material  was  equally 
fascinating  and  far  more  romantic.  The  story  of  how 
it  was  accomplished  reads  like  a  novel,  but  with  the 
thrill  of  actuality  in  it.  The  jealousies  to  meet,  the 
apathy  to  overcome,  the  suspicions  to  allay,  the  egotism 
of  would-be  historiographers  to  dispel,  the  vanity  of 


HUBERT   HOWE   BANCROFT         381 

every  kind  of  human  nature  to  satisfy  —  what  a  story 
it  is.  Vallejo,  Alvarado,  Sutter,  Bandini,  Arguello, 
Pico,  Sepulveda,  Hayes,  Wilson,  Ubach,  Robinson, 
Warner,  Coronel,  Widney,  and  a  host  of  others  to  in- 
terview, interest,  and  then  settle  down  to  the  actual  writ- 
ing or  dictation  of  their  experiences.  Thousands  upon 
thousands  of  pages  of  manuscript  were  thus  obtained  by 
incalculable  labor,  incredible  devotion,  and  no  incon- 
siderable expense.  Then  there  were  the  archives  of 
all  the  Missions  and  towns,  all  of  which  had  to  be  copied 
on  the  spot,  as  no  one  would  allow  them  to  be  removed. 

The  San  Francisco  archives  alone,  gathered  from 
all  parts  of  the  State,  bound  in  nearly  four  hundred 
volumes  of  from  seven  to  nineteen  hundred  pages  each, 
would  have  required  the  work  of  an  ordinary  copyist 
about  a  hundred  years,  working  continuously  and  faith- 
fully. Under  the  direction  of  an  expert,  fifteen  Span- 
iards were  set  to  work,  told  what  and  how  to  copy,  and 
in  a  year,  at  a  cost  of  eighteen  thousand  dollars,  all 
that  Mr.  Bancroft  needed  was  placed  in  his  library 
ready  for  his  reference. 

In  no  brief  chapter  like  this  can  anything  more  than 
the  merest  suggestion  of  the  incredible  labor  and  travel 
undertaken  be  given.  And  yet  when  all  of  this  was 
done  it  can  readily  be  seen  that  only  the  first  step  had 
been  taken  towards  the  preparation  of  a  history  of 
California  and  the  whole  Pacific  region.  Any  other  than 
a  master  mind,  a  natural  genius  for  organization  would 
have  simply  sat  down  dazed  and  baffled  by  the  very 
immensity  of  the  material  that  had  been  brought  to- 
gether. 


382  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

Little  by  little,  however,  while  the  library  had  been 
collecting,  Mr.  Bancroft  and  his  able  and  devoted  as- 
sistants had  been  formulating  a  system  —  evolved 
out  of  many  systems  —  of  indexing,  cataloguing  and 
preparing  all  this  chaotic  mass  for  literary  purposes. 
At  the  same  time  Mr.  Bancroft  had  been  preparing 
himself  for  the  task  of  writing  and  superintending  the 
writing  of  others. 

It  required  heroism  of  a  peculiar  sort  to  make  the 
library,  but  how  much  more  heroic  was  the  daring  that 
led  to  the  writing  of  the  history  must  be  left  to  those 
of  poetic  imagination  and  some  literary  experience  to 
estimate. 

Let  it  be  freely  granted  that  Mr.  Bancroft  had  de- 
voted help  from  his  able  lieutenants,  Oak,  Nemos, 
Savage,  Cerruti,  Mrs.  Victor  and  others.  Give  them 
each  all  the  credit  they  claim,  justly  or  unjustly,  and 
then  the  achievement  stands  forth  as  the  conception, 
the  work  of  a  genius,  a  general,  a  great  director. 

But  Mr.  Bancroft's  work  did  not  end  here.  The 
library  gathered,  the  history  written,  who  would  dare 
undertake  the  printing  and  publishing  of  so  elaborate 
a  work  ?  Thirty-nine  volumes  of  almost  eight  hundred 
pages  each,  full  of  names  that  must  be  correct  and  notes 
that  must  be  verified  was  of  itself  a  task  to  stagger  the 
best  established  publishing  house  in  the  world.  Then 
to  publish  and  circulate  —  sell  —  such  a  work  was  an 
added  task  before  which  ordinary  courage  would  falter. 
Yet,  after  various  experiments,  the  historian  shouldered 
the  whole  of  this  work  himself  and,  what  is  more,  car- 
ried it  through  to  a  successful  and  triumphant  issue. 


HUBERT  HOWE  BANCROFT    383 

There  was  a  time,  however,  when  it  seemed  as  if 
an  adverse  fate  would  triumph  and  arrest  the  work  when 
it  was  but  half  completed.  Mr.. Bancroft  and  his  wife 
were  in  San  Diego  when  he  received  a  telegram  that 
his  store  was  burning.  Half  an  hour  later  came  another 
saying  that  absolutely  nothing  had  been  saved  but  the 
account  books.  "  Twenty  volumes  had  been  issued,  and 
the  firm  was  still  two  hundred  thousand  dollars  behind 
on  the  enterprise.  There  was  not  a  book  left ;  there  was 
not  a  volume  of  history  saved ;  nine  volumes  of  history 
plates  were  destroyed,  besides  a  dozen  other  volumes 
of  plates;  two  carloads  of  history  paper  that  had  just 
come  in,  and  twelve  thousand  bound  volumes  were  de- 
voured by  the  flames.  There  was  the  enterprise  left, 
and  a  dozen  volumes  of  the  history  plates  in  the  library 
basement,  and  that  was  all." 

It  took  time  to  find  out  whether  the  firm  could  go 
on  or  not,  and  what  anguish  in  the  waiting,  what  re- 
grets, what  retrospections !  Had  he  been  content 
merely  to  make  money  one-fourth  the  energy  ex- 
pended on  the  history  had  made  him  ten  times  a  mil- 
lionaire, for  money  always  came  to  him  easily.  And 
to  face  not  so  much  financial  failure,  as  the  loss  of 
twenty  or  more  years  of  life  spent  in  the  most  arduous 
and  brain-racking  of  labors  was  enough  to  have  dis- 
couraged even  so  dauntless  a  soul  as  Mr.  Bancroft 
had  proven  himself  to  be.  But,  rising  to  the  situation, 
his  unconquerable  soul  asserted  itself.  The  firm  was 
reorganized,  the  store  rebuilt,  a  separate  structure 
erected  for  the  prosecution  of  the  work  on  the  History, 
and  the  wheels  set  in  full  motion  again. 


384  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

•  And  they  continued  until  success  crowned  his  ef- 
forts. The  great  work  was  accomplished,  and  in  many 
a  library  there  stands  upon  the  shelves  the  product  of 
Mr.  Bancroft's  indefatigable  and  unprecedented  ef- 
forts, —  a  monument  alike  to  his  remarkable  fore- 
sight as  an  observer,  indomitable  energy  and  courage 
as  a  collector,  sagacity  and  genius  as  a  historian,  and 
daring  as  a  publisher.  The  West  owes  him  a  debt 
it  can  never  pay;  the  world  will  reap  where  he  has 
sown  for  all  time.  To  me,  personally,  Hubert  Howe 
Bancroft  stands  forth  as  the  greatest  historian  the 
world  has  ever  known,  not  only  because  of  what  I  have 
here  so  inadequately  recounted,  but  because  of  the 
fearless  impartiality,  the  just  integrity  and  the  al- 
together honest  methods  followed  in  presenting  facts 
to  the  world.  His  footnotes  alone  are  the  positive  evi- 
dences of  his  truth  and  integrity.  They  point  ex- 
actly to  all  his  sources  of  information,  thus  giving 
to  the  readers  a  check  upon  his  every  statement,  his 
every  conclusion.  No  other  historian  has  ever  at- 
tempted to  do  what  he  has  done,  and  because  of  this 
great  achievement  and  the  spirit  in  which  it  has  been 
accomplished,  Hubert  Howe  Bancroft  is  one  of  the 
California  heroes  we  should  delight  to  honor. 


CHAPTER  XXXV 

THE  PATIENT  HERO  OF  AGRICULTURE,  LUTHER 
BURBANK 

THE  year  1849  was  a  memorable  year  in  California 
history.  It  was  the  year  of  the  great  influx  of  the 
gold  pioneers  from  all  parts  of  the  world,  and  it  was  also 
the  year  of  the  birth  of  Luther  Burbank. 

He  first  saw  the  light  in  Lancaster,  Worcester  County, 
Massachusetts,  March  7,  in  that  memorable  year. 
He  was  the  thirteenth  (lucky  number)  of  fifteen  chil- 
dren, born  to  Samuel  Walton  Burbank  by  three  mar- 
riages. He  came  to  California  in  1875,  —  deliberately 
chose  it  as  his  future  home,  and  ever  since  then  has 
been  in  every  sense  of  the  word  a  true  and  devoted 
Calif  ornian. 

It  is  not  my  purpose  here  to  enter  into  any  explanation 
of  Burbank's  wonderful  horticultural,  floricultural  and 
pomological  achievements.  These  have  been  fully 
written  about  by  Harwood,  De  Vries,  David  Starr 
Jordan,  Professor  Wickson,  and  the  experts  of  the 
Carnegie  Institution.  It  is  of  his  moral  heroism,  ex- 
ercised quietly,  unseen,  unnoticed  through  a  long  and 
active  life,  —  until  the  electric  glare  of  the  past  few 
years,  —  that  I  wish  particularly  to  write.  Emerson 
and  Goethe,  and  other  philosophers,  often  called  at- 
tention to  the  fact  that  the  things  a  man  unconsciously 


386  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

writes  into  his  life,  paints  into  his  pictures,  erects  into 
his  buildings,  carves  into  his  statues,  are  by  far  the 
most  important  of  all  the  things  that  he  does.  Anyhow 
they  are  the  things  that  reveal,  that  betray  the  real 
man,  be  the  things  revealed  good  or  bad.  It  is  this 
unconsciously  written  story  whose  lines  are  here  re- 
traced. 

In  his  earliest  years  Luther  Burbank  was  a  quiet, 
shy  lad,  making  playmates  of  plants  rather  than  of 
other  children.  His  doll  —  strange  prophecy  —  was 
a  cactus  plant,  fondly  carried  about  until  an  accident 
shattered  the  plant  and  a  young  heart  at  one  operation. 

As  a  boy  he  was  put  to  work  in  the  shops  of  the  Ames 
Plough  Company.  Though  he  longed  for  the  open  air, 
and  the  companionship  of  the  trees,  the  plants,  the 
flowers,  the  clouds,  the  sky  and  the  free  open,  such 
was  his  conception  of  duty  that  he  suppressed  all  his 
longings  and  doubly  concentrated  his  mind  with  de- 
liberate purpose  upon  the  work  he  was  set  to  do. 

When  the  time  came,  however,  Burbank  gladly  left 
the  shops  for  the  fields,  discovered  his  vocation  and 
the  Burbank  potato,  and  soon  thereafter  circum- 
stances, not  gold,  forced  him  to  California. 

He  reached  Santa  Rosa  in  1875.  Then  misfortune 
came  to  him  in  the  shape  of  illness,  which  quickly 
robbed  him  of  his  small  hoard  of  dollars.  He  was  glad 
to  take  refuge  in  an  empty  chicken- house,  and  accept 
whatever  odd  jobs  he  could  get.  One  day,  as  I  drove 
with  him  from  Santa  Rosa  to  his  proving  grounds  at 
Sevastopol,  we  passed  a  buggy  driven  by  a  man  who 
responded  very  elaborately  to  Mr.  Burbank's  friendly 


LUTHER  BURBANK  387 

nod  and  simple  salutation.  After  we  had  passed,  with 
a  whimsical  smile  upon  his  face,  he  turned  to  me  and 
said:  "  I  never  see  that  man  but  I  am  reminded  of  an 
incident  of  those  days  of  my  poverty  and  distress,  when 
I  was  glad  to  do  anything  that  came  to  hand.  One  day 
I  heard  that  that  man  was  building  a  house.  I  went 
to  him  and  asked  him  for  the  job  of  shingling  it.  He 
asked  me  what  I  would  do  it  for.  The  regular  price 
was  two  dollars  and  a  half  a  thousand,  but  I  was  so 
anxious  for  the  work  that  I  offered  to  do  it  for  one 
dollar  and  seventy-five  cents.  '  All  right,'  he  said, 
'  come  and  begin  to-morrow.'  But  I  had  no  shingling 
hammer  and  all  the  cash  I  had  hi  the  world  was  sev- 
enty-five cents,  which  I  at  once  expended  in  purchasing 
the  necessary  hammer.  Next  morning  when  I  reached 
the  job,  my  new  hammer  in  hand  all  ready  to  go  to  work, 
I  was  surprised  and  —  what  shall  I  say  —  dismayed, 
to  find  another  man  already  at  work,  while  the  owner 
calmly  came  to  me  and  said:  '  I  guess  you'll  have  to 
let  that  job  go,  as  this  man  here  has  undertaken  to  do  it 
for  one  dollar  a  thousand.' 

"  How  disappointed  I  was!  I  had  spent  my  last  cent, 
had  a  hammer  that  was  no  use  to  me  now,  and  no  job. 
But  I  kept  a  stiff  upper  lip  and  work  soon  came,  and 
I've  never  been  quite  so  hard  up  since." 

Harwood,  in  speaking  of  this  period  of  Burbank's 
life,  graphically  says:  "  The  man  who  was  to  become 
the  foremost  figure  in  the  world  in  his  line  of  work,  and 
who  was  to  pave  the  way  by  his  own  discoveries  and 
creations  for  others  of  all  lands  to  follow  in  his  foot- 
steps, was  a  stranger  in  a  strange  land,  close  to  starva- 


388  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

tion,  penniless,  beset  by  disease,  hard  by  the  gates 
of  death.  And  yet  never  for  an  instant  did  this  heroic 
figure  lose  hope,  never  did  he  abandon  confidence  in 
himself,  not  once  did  he  swerve  from  the  path  he  had 
marked  out.  In  the  midst  of  all  he  kept  an  unshaken 
faith.  He  accepted  the  trials  that  came,  not  as  a  matter 
of  course,  not  tamely,  nor  with  any  mock  heroics,  but 
as  a  passing  necessity.  His  resolution  was  of  iron,  his 
will  of  steel,  his  heart  of  gold;  he  was  fighting  in  the 
splendid  armor  of  a  clean  life." 

Slowly  he  regained  his  health,  doing  odd  jobs  as  he 
was  able,  and  at  last  had  money  enough  to  secure  a 
small  plot  of  ground,  begin  a  nursery,  and,  at  the  same 
time,  carry  out  the  plan  formed  years  ago,  —  become 
an  improver  and  creator. 

Yet,  in  all  his  experimenting  he  was  innately  modest. 
There  was  no  blare  of  trumpets.  Note  this  well,  young 
men  and  women.  He  went  his  own  way;  followed  the 
vision  that  he  alone  saw;  but  he  did  it  reverently,  re- 
spectfully, modestly.  There  were  no  loud  declarations 
as  to  the  ignorance  of  the  horticulturalists  of  the  past ; 
no  open  defiance  of  the  horticulturalists  of  the  present ; 
but  simply  a  quiet,  calm,  silent,  modest  sailing  of  his 
own  ship  over  the  unknown  sea.  Too  often  the  young 
want  to  do  as  Burbank  did,  but  they  spoil  their  lives 
by  the  blatancy  of  their  methods,  the  immodesty  of  their 
self-conceit,  and  the  rudeness  of  their  criticisms  of 
those  whose  lives  have  demonstrated  that  they  were 
real  benefactors  to  the  race.  In  a  speech  made  at  the 
banquet  in  Luther  Burbank's  honor,  given  by  the 
California  Board  of  Trade  in  San  Francisco,  California, 


LUTHER  BURBANK  389 

John  P.  Irish  beautifully  referred  to  this  quality  in 
Burbank's  character: 

"  Mr.  Burbank  has  conferred  upon  California  the 
imperishable  honor  of  association  with  his  name  and  his 
work.  That  work  has  been  prosecuted  by  him  with  a 
devotion  that  thought  of  no  personal  gain.  The  fame  of 
it  has  gone  forth  to  the  world.  His  life  has  been  so 
quiet,  his  absorption  so  complete,  that  Californians 
know  him  only  by  his  creations,  whose  benefits  they 
enjoy.  A  gentleman  who  is  here  tells  me  that  when 
in  London,  entertained  hospitably  by  an  English 
gentleman,  his  host  talked  only  of  Luther  Burbank, 
and  the  Californian  was  ashamed  to  admit  that  he  had 
never  met  Mr.  Burbank  and  did  not  know  the  location 
of  his  wonder-working  efforts.  When  he  left  he  asked 
his  host  what  he  could  do  to  repay  his  great  hospitality, 
and  the  Englishman  said:  '  Send  me  a  branch  from 
one  of  Luther  Burbank's  plums,  from  his  own  nursery, 
that  I  may  graft  it  on  a  stock  hi  my  garden,  and  you 
will  more  than  repay  all.'  " 

And,  while  it  is  somewhat  running  ahead  of  the  story, 
it  is  appropriate  that  it  should  here  be  noted  that,  in  the 
words  of  one  of  his  own  neighbors,  Judge  Burnett: 
"  It  is  pleasing  to  reflect  that  the  distinction  which 
has  come  to  him  unsought  has  not  disturbed  the  splendid 
equipose  of  his  nature.  The  current  of  his  life  flows 
on  with  the  same  serenity,  purity  and  sweetness  that 
characterized  his  youth  and  early  manhood." 

Note  well,  then,  his  modesty  when  he  began  his 
work,  and  also  when,  success  attained,  that  work 
brought  him  world-wide  fame,  .honor,  wealth,  and 


HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

the  plaudits  of  the  great  minds  of  earth.  When  I  first 
visited  him  in  his  home,  this  was  the  earliest  impression 
I  received.  As  I  then  wrote: 

"  Though  honored  by  kings  and  princes,  by  scientists 
and  leaders  of  men  the  world  over,  he  is  the  simplest 
kind  of  man  at  home.  There  is  none  of  the  haughtiness, 
or  pride,  or  self-conceit  that  would  have  taken  pos- 
session of  a  smaller  man,  and  that  would  have  shown 
itself  in  his  daily  intercourse  with  his  subordinates. 
While  they  all  revere  and  respect  him,  honor  and 
obey  him,  they  all  feel  his  simplicity  of  character,  the 
pure  democratic  soul  within  him,  and  one  and  all  speak 
to  him,  and  of  him,  in  the  everyday  name  of  '  Boss.' 
But  it  is  when  you  hear  the  sweet  intonation  of  the 
voices  of  the  maids  in  the  house  and  the  men  in  the 
fields  as  they  thus  speak,  that  you  feel  and  compre- 
hend the  friendliness  of  the  man. 

"  His  neighbors  in  Santa  Rosa  (where  he  lives)  and 
Sevastopol  (where  his  testing  grounds  are),  and  on  the 
seven-mile  drive  thither,  have  the  same  warm,  kindly, 
democratic  feeling  towards  him,  and  he  responds  as 
cheerily  to  the  salutation  of  the  wood-hauler  and  the 
potato-digger  as  he  does  to  that  of  the  banker  or  rail- 
way magnate,  and  we  met  all  kinds  as  we  drove  from 
Santa  Rosa  to  Sevastopol  and  back." 

On  the  occasion  of  my  visit  referred  to,  I  wrote : 

"  When  night-time  came,  he  invited  the  '  help  '  to 
the  lawn  at  the  rear  of  the  house  that  I  might  tell  them 
a  few  experiences  among  the  Indians,  and  as  we  sat 
there  the  telephone  bell  rang.  He  answered  it,  and 
on  returning,  called  out  as  he  approached :  '  I've 


LUTHER  BURBANK  391 

prevented  that  thing  from  annoying  us  again  by  taking 
off  the  bell.'  Then,  as  happy  and  joyous  and  free  as  a 
boy,  he  threw  his  hat  on  the  grass,  went  down  on  his 
hands  and  knees,  and  came  to  us  turning  a  somer- 
sault." 

Here  is  an  unspoiled  king,  the  true  democrat,  the 
man  who  actually  lives  his  belief  in  the  brotherhood 
of  man.  Here  is  no  false  dignity,  no  pomp,  no  cere- 
mony. His  dignity  is  in  his  life.  He  commands  respect 
by  his  inherent  power,  and  needs  none  of  the  haughtiness 
of  the  factitious  dignity  that  is  not  sure  of  its  position. 
His  humble  attitude  is  the  sign  of  his  soul's  self-con- 
scious supremacy,  —  a  supremacy  which  sees  the 
dignity  of  every  other  soul. 

Early  in  his  nursery  career  in  California,  he  dis- 
played that  daring  of  mind,  and  audacity  of  execution 
that  are  inseparably  connected  with  the  independent 
thinker  —  another  manifestation  of  the  true  California 
spirit.  Harwood  tells  an  illustrative  story: 

"  One  day  there  came  to  the  young  nurseryman 
an  order  .  .  .  from  a  man  who  was  going  to  start  a 
large  prune  ranch.  He  wanted  twenty  thousand  young 
trees  to  set  out.  It  would  take,  in  the  ordinary  course 
of  events,  from  two  and  a  half  to  three  years  for  a 
nurseryman  to  raise  the  trees,  but  this  was  a  hurry-up 
order;  if  it  was  to  be  filled,  it  must  be  filled  in  nine 
months. 

"  He  took  the  order.  With  all  haste  he  scoured  the 
country  for  men  and  boys  to  plant  almonds.  It  was 
late  in  the  season  and  the  almond  seed  was  the  only  one 
which  would  sprout  at  that  time  among  all  the  trees 


392  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

that  were  suitable  for  his  plans.  It  grows  very  rapidly, 
too,  and  this  was  taken  into  account.  In  a  compara- 
tively short  time  the  young  shoots  were  big  enough  for 
budding.  Twenty  thousand  prune  buds  were  in 
readiness,  were  budded  into  the  growing  almonds,  and 
the  young  trees  started  forward  in  their  race  for  the 
prize.  When  the  nine  months  were  up,  the  twenty 
thousand  prune  trees  were  ready.  Nature  had  been 
outwitted,  or,  better  put,  had  been  led  to  outdo  her  self; 
the  fruit-grower  was  delighted;  the  young  nurseryman 
was  a  good  many  dollars  in  pocket.  To-day,  twenty 
years  afterward,  one  of  the  finest  prune  orchards  in 
California  or  the  world  is  growing  from -these  trees." 

Another  of  the  marked  characteristics  of  Luther 
Burbank  is  his  readiness  to  acknowledge  his  ignorance. 
I  have  heard  questions  put  to  him  again  and  again, 
to  which  the  questioners  undoubtedly  expected  the 
answer  of  knowledge.  Without  any  more  hesitation 
or  consciousness  than  when  he  is  able  to  answer,  he 
promptly  replied:  "I  do  not  know!"  "I  cannot 
tell,"  and  thus,  again,  revealed  the  innate  greatness  of 
his  soul. 

While  he  was  able  to  make  money  rapidly,  and  did  so, 
he  was  absolutely  uninfluenced  by  any  monetary  con- 
sideration in  the  carrying  out  of  his .  larger  plans.  As 
a  nurseryman  he  had  a  keen  eye  to  business,  as  any 
honest  man  ought  to  have.  But  when  it  came  to  his  ex- 
periments, even  his  few  friends  who  knew,  deemed  him 
reckless  almost  to  the  point  of  censure.  For  instance, 
he  personally  assured  me  that  he  had  burned  over  half 
a  million  plum  trees  in  the  production  of  the  wonderful 


LUTHER    BURBANK  S    OLD    HOME,    SANTA    ROSA,    CAL. 


Page  391 


LUTHER  BURBANK'S  NEW  HOME,  SIDE  VIEW,  SANTA  ROSA, 
CALIFORNIA. 

Page  S92 


PROFESSOR    AND    MRS.   T.    S.    C.    LOWE. 


Page  4/9 


LUTHER  BURBANK  393 

trees  that  bear  his  name.  Most  of  these  trees  could 
have  been  sold,  and  they  were  passably  good  trees. 
But  passably  good  was  not  good  enough.  His  aim  was 
high,  and  he  would  not,  for  mere  money,  lower  that 
aim  in  any  one  thing,  for  if  lowered  at  all,  the  standard 
necessarily  was  lowered,  and  to  keep  that  standard  at 
its  maximum  of  elevation  was  the  meaning  of  life  itself 
to  Luther  Burbank. 

Perhaps  at  this  point  some  curious  reader  may  ask: 
"  How  does  Mr.  Burbank  actually  determine  what  trees 
he  will  keep  and  what  destroy  ?  "  As  I  have  had  the 
gratification  and  pleasure  of  seeing  him  at  work  in  this 
very  task,  I  will  explain.  It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that 
the  process  of  weeding  out,  of  selection,  takes  years 
to  complete.  For  instance:  Out  of  a  thousand  trees 
examined  this  month,  a  hundred  may  be  retained,  the 
others  destroyed.  Of  this  hundred,  the  weeding  out 
process  next  year  may  leave  only  ten,  and  the  year  later, 
only  one,  or  perhaps  not  even  one.  Two  assistants  fol- 
lowed us,  as  we  passed  down  the  row.  Before  we 
began,  he  rapidly  suggested  to  me  what  he  was  aiming 
at.  First  of  all  the  tree  as  a  whole  must  be  shapely  — 
it  must  look  well.  Its  leaves  must  be  possessed  of 
certain  qualities,  for  thus  he  determined  its  climatic 
hardihood.  The  skin  of  the  fruit  must  be  of  good  color, 
perfect  and  suitable  shape,  and  of  the  proper  strength. 
The  inside  of  the  fruit  must  be  firm,  juicy,  sweet  and 
of  good  flavor. 

One  glance,  and  all  the  first  requirements  were 
examined  into.  A  representative  plum  was  plucked, 
perhaps  two  or  three,  and  while  I  was  tasting,  Mr. 


394  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

Burbank  had  decided  all  he  wanted  to  know.  One 
glance  determined  the  skin  qualities,  a  feel,  and  a  taste 
the  interior  fruit  qualities,  and  almost  as  quickly  as 
I  can  write  it,  he  passed  the  trees  one  after  another 
saying,  after  testing  the  fruit,  "Kill!"  "Kill!" 
"Keep!"  "Kill!"  etc.  A  white  string  tied  to  the 
tree  by  the  assistant  signified  "  Keep!"  a  black  one 
"Kill!" 

While  watching  this  process,  I  learned  another  of 
Mr.  Burbank's  California  characteristics.  He  is  the 
man  of  absolute  authority.  He  does  not  delegate  to 
any  one  what  he  himself  has  to  determine.  He  knows 
what  he  is  doing,  and  he  does  it,  with  fearless  self- 
confidence.  As  his  long-time  friend,  Professor  Wick- 
son,  says,  speaking  of  his  innate  modesty  and  how  easy 
it  is  for  the  casual  observer  to  misunderstand  this: 
"  Those  who  meet  Mr.  Burbank  but  casually  are  .  .  . 
apt  to  magnify  his  reticence  until  they  see  in  it  timidity, 
self- depreciation,  inexperience,  embarrassment,  and 
the  like.  All  these  forms  of  weakness  are  absent  from 
the  man.  He  is  self-confident  but  not  self-assertive. 
He  is  fearless  and  not  to  be  easily  turned  from  the  wray 
he  expects  to  go,  but  he  does  not  insist  that  others 
shall  go  his  way.  He  seldom  errs  in  his  judgment  of 
men  and  he  usually  gives  the  loud  and  effusive  visitor 
the  right  of  way  in  conversation,  studying  him  mean- 
time with  a  wondering  eye." 

His  reticence  is  really  the  reticence  of  genius.  How 
can  he  talk  with  those  who  do  not  understand? 

Another  revelation  came  to  me  as  we  walked  through 
the  proving-grounds  at  Sevastopol.  I  noticed  that 


LUTHER   BURBANK  395 

none  of  his  men  smoked  or  used  tobacco  in  any  form, 
and  commented  to  Mr.  Burbank  upon  the  fact. 
"  That,"  said  he,  "  is  imperative  in  our  work.  The 
processes  of  Nature  sometimes  are  so  delicate  and 
fine  that,  if  we  would  aid  her,  the  nerves  must  be  of 
the  steadiest,  and  under  the  most  perfect  control. 
This,  I  speedily  found  out  in  the  beginning  of  my  work, 
was  impossible  with  the  tobacco  user.  I  have  never 
used  the  weed  myself,  and  it  cannot  be  used  by  any  pf 
my  helpers!  " 

I  scarcely  deem  it  necessary  to  say  that  this  heroic 
soul  is  inflexible  in  his  honor  and  truthfulness.  No 
one  ever  bought  a  single  plant  from  him  and  was  con- 
sciously deceived  by  him  as  to  its  qualities  or  name. 
Here  was  no  sharp  practitioner,  willing  to  sell  anything, 
even  his  own  honor,  if  he  could  get  a  price.  It  is  too 
well  known  that  in  California,  as  elsewhere,  nursery- 
men (and  others)  have  sold  inferior  stock,  or  wrong 
varieties  rather  than  lose  a  sale.  Never  once,  in  Bur- 
bank's  whole  career,  was  such  a  thing  knowingly  done. 

It  was  by  such  faithfulness  to  principle  that  he  ulti- 
mately built  up  his  business  so  that  it  was  paying  him 
an  annual  income  of  not  less  than  ten  thousand  dollars 
a  year.  Here  was  an  abundant  fortune  for  a  man  of 
his  modest  requirements.  Why  not  retire  and  take 
an  easy  time,  travel,  see  the  world,  see  what  other 
horticulturalists  have  done,  visit  Kew  and  other  noted 
gardens?  Some  men  might  have  done  this,  but  not 
Luther  Burbank.  Though  constantly  experimenting 
as  far  as  his  time  and  opportunities  allowed  he  was  ever 
looking  forward  to  the  day  he  could  give  up  his  purely 


396  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

commercial  work  as  a  nurseryman  and  devote  the 
whole  of  his  life  to  the  one  work  to  which  he  was  so 
earnestly  consecrated.  He  knew  the  price  he  would 
have  to  pay,  but  he  resolutely  faced  that.  Herein, 
again,  he  showed  his  possession  of  that  long-patient, 
never- wearying  California  spirit,  that  sees  its  object  far, 
far  ahead,  and  unswervingly  works,  through  every 
difficulty,  over  every  obstacle,  towards  it. 

He  sold  his  business  and  resolutely  set  to  work  to 
carry  out  his  experiments  at  the  expense  of  his  fortune. 
He  not  only  used  up  all  the  interest  he  got  from  his 
invested  money,  but  he  soon  began  to  eat  into  the  prin- 
cipal. Year  after  year  he  wrorked,  steadily  sticking  to 
his  costly  experiments,  and  seeing  his  fortune  dwindle 
and  melt  like  snow  in  the  afternoon  sun,  but  never  for  a 
moment  did  he  falter.  He  determined  to  keep  on  as 
long  as  his  money  held  out,  then,  said  he,  hi  talking  to  me 
about  this  period:  "  I  was  willing  to  begin  over  again. 
I  felt  sure  I  could  then  earn  enough  to  live  on,  and  if 
not,  —  if  I  had  grown  too  old  and  feeble,  the  good  God 
would  see  that  I  was  cared  for  in  some  way."  And  he 
said  it  reverently,  for,  though  he  no  longer  holds  to  the 
old  Puritan  faith  of  his  childhood  as  far  as  creeds  and 
doctrines  are  concerned,  his  nature  is  essentially  rev- 
erent and  religious. 

It  was  while  he  was  thus  unselfishly  and  quietly  using 
up  his  fortune,  though  scarce  any  one  knew  what 
he  was  doing,  for  he  never  told  of  his  work  for  the 
benefit  of  the  world,  that  the  recognition  from  the 
scientific  world  came  that  ultimately  led  to  the  placing 
of  his  fortunes  on  a  solid  financial  footing. 


LUTHER   BURBANK  397 

It  has  often  been  said  that  Burbank  is  no  scientist. 
Nonsense!  Listen  to  the  judgment  of  one  of  the  great- 
est of  America's  pure  scientists,  David  Starr  Jordan: 
"  It  seems  to  me  that  Mr.  Burbank,  while  primarily 
an  artist,  is,  in  his  general  attitude,  essentially  a  man 
of  science.  Academic  he  doubtless  is  not,  but  the 
qualities  we  call  scientific  are  not  necessarily  bred  in 
the  academy.  Science  is  human  experience,  tested  and 
set  in  order.  Within  the  range  of  moulding  plants, 
Mr.  Burbank  has  read  carefully,  and  thought  carefully, 
maturing  his  own  generalizations  and  resting  them  on 
the  basis  of  his  own  knowledge.  Within  the  range  of 
his  own  experience,  he  is  an  original  and  logical  thinker, 
and  his  conclusions  are  in  general  most  sound.  .  .  . 
In  his  field  of  the  application  of  our  knowledge  of 
heredity,  selection  and  crossing  in  the  development 
of  plants,  he  stands  unique  hi  the  world.  No  one  else, 
whatever  his  appliances,  has  done  as  much  as  Burbank, 
or  disclosed  as  much  of  the  laws  governing  these  phe- 
nomena. Burbank  has  worked  for  years  alone,  not 
understood  and  not  appreciated,  at  a  constant  financial 
loss,  and  for  this  reason,  —  that  his  instincts  and  pur- 
poses are  essentially  those  of  a  scientific  man.  .  .  . 
In  his  own  way,  Burbank  belongs  in  the  class  of  Farady 
and  the  long  array  of  self-taught  great  men  who  lived 
while  the  universities  were  spending  their  strength 
on  fine  points  of  grammar  and  hazy  conceptions  of 
philosophy."  .  .  . 

Then  Dr.  Jordan  closes  with  these  strong  words: 
"  If  his  place  is  outside  the  temple  of  science,  there  are 
not  many  of  the  rest  of  us  who  will  be  found  fit  to  enter." 


398  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

Other  recognized  scientists,  like  Hugo  de  Vries 
and  Professors  E.  J.  Wickson,  Loeb  and  Vernon  L. 
Kellogg,  confirm  Dr.  Jordan's  assertions,  after  pro- 
longed studies  of  Burbank  and  his  methods,  hence  any 
charge  of  charlatanism  is  both  ungenerous  and  untrue. 
He  is  a  practical,  as  opposed  to  a  theoretical,  scientist. 

Herein  is  another  of  the  elements  of  the  California 
spirit,  through  and  by  which  the  academic  world  is  to 
be  influenced.  Crystallization  in  a  living  organization 
is  the  precursor  of  death.  The  California  spirit  is 
full  of  life.  It  refuses  to  crystallize,  —  to  state  finals, 
to  assert  definite,  fixed  ultimates.  Life  is  tentative, 
changeable.  The  settled  of  to-day  (in  the  minds  of 
men)  is  proven  to  be  the  unsettled  of  to-morrow.  The 
academic  spirit,  however  progressive,  too  often  is  cock- 
sure. The  California  spirit  says  "  Wait  awhile!  It  is 
not  necessary  to  state  ultimate  conclusions  yet !  "  In 
this  spirit  Burbank  has  done  his  work.  Therefore  he 
has  transcended  the  conservatives.  Yet  such  has  been 
his  thoroughness,  his  skill,  his  well-balanced  judgment, 
his  results,  that,  in  spite  of  themselves,  the  narrow- 
minded  and  jealous,  even  among  academicians,  have 
been  compelled  to  recognize  his  scientific  mastership. 

And  here  let  me  call  attention  to  another  result  of 
Burbank's  work.  Though  his  methods  have  been 
known  to  scientists  for  years,  and  practised  in  a  measure 
by  many,  his  achievements  have  so  directed  the  popular 
attention  to  the  subject  that  he  has  awakened  more 
minds  to  the  possibilities  of  plant  mutation  than  all 
the  scientists  of  the  world  combined.  This,  surely,  is  an 
object  to  be  desired,  to  awaken,  to  stimulate,  to  broaden 


LUTHER  BURBANK  399 

the  intellect  of  the  masses.  The  California  spirit  is 
essentially  democratic.  It  believes  in  no  other  special 
privileges  than  those  that  come  to  a  man  by  natural 
inheritance  or  hard  work.  It  would  have  all  men  enjoy 
all  there  is  to  enjoy,  —  know  all  there  is  to  know,  — 
be  all  man  can  be.  The  knowledge  of  what  Burbank 
has  done,  spread  abroad  among  the  children  of  the  poor, 
has  done  more  to  quicken  the  general  intellect  of  the 
race,  to  produce  those  soul- visions  that  lead  to  mental 
and  spiritual  uplift,  than  time  can  ever  tell.  The  benefit 
is  as  far-reaching  as  the  life  of  the  race. 

And  yet  few  know  or  dream  that  all  this  outer  work 
of  Burbank's  has  only  been  the  preparation  for  a  larger 
work  upon  wrhich,  in  early  life,  his  heart  was  intensely 
set.  Plants  and  flowers  have  been  the  means  to  that 
end.  His  real  object  has  been  to  find  out  how  the 
great  God  worked  for  the  improvement  of  plant  life, 
and  then,  when  those  secrets  were  discovered,  he  hoped 
he  could  find  the  ear  and  attention  of  his  fellow-men 
to  show  how  these  same  principles  could  be  applied 
to  the  improvement  of  the  human  race. 

He  felt  that  if  he  became  an  acknowledged  expert  — 
recognized  throughout  the  world  as  a  practical  master 
of  the  laws  governing  the  development  and  improve- 
ment of  plants,  he  could  "  speak  as  one  having  au- 
thority," and  the  world  would  listen  and  heed  in  regard 
to  the  improvement  of  the  human  race. 

During  the  years  of  his  life  the  cries  of  the  ill-born 
have  been  sounding  in  his  ears,  the  groans  of  the  sick, 
the  moans  of  the  crippled  and  diseased,  the  deformed, 
the  lame,  the  halt,  the  palsied,  the  blind.  He  knew 


400  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

that  these  groans  and  cries  of  anguish,  these  wails  of 
agony  and  despair  were  not  part  of  the  plan  of  the  Al- 
mighty and  Loving  Father  of  men.  He  knew  it  was 
never  the  intention  of  the  Allwise  that  so  many  innocent 
children  should  be  born  to  a  few  months  of  speechless 
agony  and  then  a  horrible  death.  So,  with  a  heart  full 
of  love  to  humanity,  with  his  ears  ever  open  to  the 
cry  of  the  poor  and  suffering,  he  determined  to  do  all 
he  could  to  teach  men  that  such  pain  and  suffering  were 
unnecessary  and  unnatural,  that  they  could  be  pre- 
vented, and  that  the  first  care  of  humanity  was  the 
breeding  of  a  healthy,  strong  and  happy  race. 

When  the  California  Board  of  Trade  tendered  him 
a  complimentary  banquet  in  San  Francisco,  where 
governors,  United  States  senators,  college  presidents, 
judges  and  other  notables  assembled  to  do  him  honor, 
this  was  the  theme  upon  which  he  spoke.  His  words 
were  a  great  surprise.  Up  to  that  time  not  even  his 
intimate  friends  had  known  what  was  in  his  thought. 
But  the  words  then  spoken  will  continue  to  echo  around 
the  world,  quickening  the  hearts  of  men  and  women  to 
a  higher  idealism  in  the  cultivation  of  the  human  plant. 

Here,  then,  to  me,  is  Luther  Burbank's  greatest 
proof  of  heroism  and  deep  spirituality.  He  has  not 
worked  for  fame,  for  honor,  for  applause,  for  wealth. 
He  has  worked  for  his  fellow- men,  and  particularly  for 
the  child,  the  unborn  child,  that,  when  it  was  born, 
it  might  have  the  joy,  the  happiness,  the  perpetual 
pleasure  of  being  welcome  to  this  life,  and  as  well  born 
as  knowledge,  science  and  love  combined  could  accom- 
plish. 


CHAPTER  XXXVI 

THE  SYMPATHETIC  HERO  OF  LAND  REFORM, 
HENRY  GEORGE 


may  count  upon  the  fingers  all  the  religionists, 
scientists,  lawmakers  or  philosophers  who  have 
materially  changed  the  current  of  the  thought  of  the 
world.  To  those,  even  of  powerful  intellect,  the  task  of 
giving  a  new  trend  to  the  thoughts  and  actions  of  men 
must  appear  either  hopeless  or  impossible.  First  the 
reformatory,  revolutionary  idea  must  be  found,  and 
then  it  must  be  so  presented  that  it  takes  possession 
of  the  mind  of  the  world.  If  a  man  declares  that  he 
has  such  a  thought,  he  is  liable  to  be  charged  by  his 
fellows  with  an  overweening  vanity,  an  arrogance 
that  stamps  him  with  a  great  moral  weakness.  On  the 
other  hand,  if  he  have  such  an  idea  and  fails  to  give  it 
to  the  world,  it  can  have  no  reformatory  effect. 

Henry  George  was  born  September  3,  1839,  in  Phila- 
delphia, Pa.,  but  it  was  not  until  he  had  become  a 
printer  and  was  working  in  San  Francisco  that  the 
"  flaming  idea  "  took  full  possession  of  his  soul,  though 
for  years  he  had  been  pondering  the  subject.  When  only 
eighteen  years  of  age  the  question  had  been  aroused 
in  his  mind  in  conversation  with  an  old  miner,  who  had 
suggested  that  as  the  country  grew  in  population  and 
material  prosperity,  the  condition  of  those  who  had 


402  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

to  work  for  a  living  would  grow,  not  better,  but  worse. 
Or,  later,  as  he  himself  states  it:  "Like  a  flash  it 
came  upon  me  that .  .  .  with  the  growth  of  population, 
land  grows  in  value,  and  the  men  who  work  it  must  pay 
more  for  the  privilege." 

This  was  the  beginning  of  the  thought  that  was  to 
grow  and  expand  until  it  changed  the  destinies  of 
nations.  In  the  year  1868  he  wrote  an  article  for  the 
newly  founded  Overland  Monthly,  of  which  Bret 
Harte  was  editor,  entitled  "  What  the  Railroad  Will 
Bring  Us."  It  is  a  ten-page  article,  some  seven 
thousand  words  in  length,  and  reveals  the  student  and 
thinker.  Here,  in  his  first  notable  contribution  to 
literature,  he  shows  the  growing  power  of  his  idea. 
In  stating  what  the  building  of  the  Union  and  Central 
Pacific  Railways  will  bring  to  California,  he  says: 
"  The  sharpest  sense  of  Americans  —  the  keen  sense 
of  gain,  which  certainly  does  not  lose  its  keenness  in 
our  bracing  air  —  is  the  first  to  realize  what  is  coming 
with  our  railroad.  All  over  the  State  land  is  apprecia- 
ting; fortunes  are  being  made  in  a  day  by  buying  and 
parcelling  out  Spanish  ranches;  the  government 
surveyors  and  registrars  are  busy;  speculators  are 
grappling  the  public  domain  by  the  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands of  acres,  while  for  miles  in  every  direction  around 
San  Francisco,  ground  is  being  laid  off  into  homestead 
lots." 

In  concluding  his  article,  which,  in  the  main,  is  a 
wise  appreciation  of  the  good  the  railroad  would  do, 
he  still  reverts  to  the  theme  that  was  ultimately  to 
take  full  possession  of  his  soul,  for  he  declares:  "  The 


HENRY  GEORGE  403 

truth  is,  that  the  completion  of  the  railroad  and  the 
consequent  great  increase  of  business  and  population 
will  not  be  a  benefit  to  all  of  us,  but  only  to  a  portion. 
As  a  general  rule  (liable  of  course  to  exceptions), 
those  who  have,  it  will  make  wealthier;  for  those  who 
have  not,  it  will  make  it  more  difficult  to  get.  Those 
who  have  land,  mines,  established  businesses,  special 
abilities  of  certain  kinds,  will  become  richer  for  it, 
and  find  increased  opportunities;  those  who  have  only 
their  own  labor  will  become  poorer,  and  find  it  harder 
to  get  ahead  —  first  because  it  will  take  more  capital 
to  buy  land  or  to  get  into  business;  and  second,  be- 
cause, as  competition  reduces  the  wages  of  labor,  this 
capital  will  be  harder  for  them  to  obtain. 

"  What,  for  instance,  does  the  rise  in  land  mean  ? 
Several  things,  but  certainly  and  prominently  this: 
that  it  will  be  harder  in  future  for  a  poor  man  to  get  a 
farm  or  a  homestead  lot.  In  some  sections  of  the  State, 
land  which  twelve  months  ago  could  have  been  had 
for  a  dollar  an  acre,  cannot  now  be  bought  for  less 
than  fifteen  dollars.  In  other  words,  the  settler  who 
last  year  might  have  had  at  once  a  farm  of  his  own, 
must  now  either  go  to  work  on  wages  for  someone  else, 
pay  rent,  or  buy  on  time;  in  either  case  being  com- 
pelled to  give  to  the  capitalist  a  large  proportion  of  the 
earnings  which,  had  he  arrived  a  year  ago,  he  might 
have  had  all  for  himself.  And  as  proprietorship  is 
thus  rendered  more  difficult  and  less  profitable  to  the 
poor,  more  are  forced  into  the  labor  market  to  compete 
with  each  other,  and  to  cut  down  the  rate  of  wages  — 
that  is,  to  make  the  division  of  the  joint  production 


404  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

between  labor  and  capital  more  in  favor  of  capital 
and  less  in  favor  of  labor." 

Other  effects  of  the  centralization  of  wealth  are 
forcefully  presented,  and  it  is  clear  to  see  that  the 
young  writer  by  no  means  regarded  the  incoming  of 
the  railway  as  an  unmixed  good.  When,  a  little  later, 
he  saw  the  actual  results  he  had  prophesied  and,  in 
addition,  realized  that  the  railroad  was  becoming  more 
grasping  and  determined  upon  absolute  control  of  the 
State,  he  began  to  speak  out  even  more  clearly  against 
the  system  which  made  this  possible.  While  he  could 
see  clearly  enough  that  the  railway  builders  had  un- 
dertaken herculean  labors,  and  that  they  were  striving 
with  bravery  even  to  heroism  to  accomplish  them, 
he  also  saw  that  the  land  grants  and  subsidies  of  both 
State  and  nation  were  incorrect  in  principle,  for  they 
saddled  the  people  of  the  future  with  burdens  they  had 
no  right  to  bear.  Accordingly,  as  he  had  already 
graduated  from  the  typesetter's  case  to  the  editorial 
chair,  and  was  sending  out  forceful  articles  both  East 
and  West,  he  began  to  attack  the  railroad  policies 
with  characteristic  energy  and  determination.  This 
required  a  courage  and  independence  rare  in  young 
men,  —  he  was  but  thirty  years  of  age.  For,  as  his 
son  well  states  in  his  Life  of  Henry  George:  "  The 
Central  Pacific  had  become  the  overshadowing  in- 
fluence in  California.  It  owned  or  controlled  most 
of  the  press,  swayed  the  legislature,  bent  the  courts, 
governed  banks,  and  moved  as  a  mighty  force  in 
politics.  It  was  quick  to  recognize  talent,  and  as 
quick  to  engage  or  reward  it.  Out  of  imperial  coffers 


HENRY  GEORGE  405 

it  had  fortunes  to  bestow.  With  a  word  it  could  make 
men,  and  so  far  as  the  masses  were  concerned,  could 
as  easily  break  men.  Of  those  who  could  not,  or  would 
not  serve,  it  asked  only  silence,  merely  immunity  from 
attack." 

But  George  could  neither  be  bought  nor  silenced. 
For  a  time  he  edited  an  Oakland  paper,  and  then  he 
was  made  editor  and  given  a  fourth  interest  in  the 
Sacramento  Reporter.  Into  the  work  of  this  paper  he 
threw  himself  heart  and  soul.  The  Central  Pacific 
Railway  had  already  received  from  State  and  nation 
large  grants  of  lands,  bonds,  and  subsidies,  but  they 
were  calling  for  more.  Viewing  things  as  he  did, 
George  could  do  no  other  than  oppose  them,  which 
he  did  forcefully  and  constantly.  Finding  he  could 
not  be  silenced,  the  railway  quietly  bought  control  of 
the  paper,  thus  taking  away  from  him  the  organ  in  which 
he  expressed  and  disseminated  his  ideas,  compelling 
him  to  sell  out  his  interest  and  seek  a  new  method 
of  sending  his  surging  thoughts  broadcast.  For  some 
time  past  he  had  ceased  to  take  his  opinions  unques- 
tioned from  books.  He  had  learned  to  do  his  own 
thinking.  Ideas  were  rapidly  formulating  themselves 
into  a  clear  philosophy. 

He  saw  the  public  lands  of  the  United  States,  which 
seemed  so  vast  as  to  be  practically  illimitable,  being 
given  away  with  a  reckless  disregard  of  the  future. 
He  saw  that  the  ultimate  result  of  this  would  be  that 
in  a  comparatively  short  time  much  land  would  be  in 
few  hands.  This  he  regarded  as  unjust  and  contrary 
to  true  political  economy.  The  result  was  that  as 


4o6  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

soon  as  his  thought  became  clarified  in  his  own  mind, 
—  after  several  public  lectures  upon  the  subject,  — 
he  issued  the  first  of  a  series  of  works  that  were  ma- 
terially to  influence  the  thought  and  political  action 
of  the  larger  part  of  the  civilized  world.  This  pamphlet 
is  composed  of  forty-eight  pages  and  cover,  printed  in 
small  type,  and  bears  the  title:  Our  Land  and  Land 
Policy,  National  and  State,  and  its  date  is  1871.  An 
original  copy  of  this  brochure  is  now  worth  its  weight 
in  gold. 

In  this  pamphlet  Henry  George  discusses  the  ex- 
tent of  the  public  domain,  the  prospective  value  of  land, 
the  land  policy  of  the  United  States,  public  sale  and 
private  entry,  and  donations  of  public  lands,  especially 
with  relation  to  the  railroads. 

He  then  proceeds  to  a  statement  of  the  specific 
conditions  that  existed  in  California  at  that  time  in 
regard  to  the  monopolization  of  land,  first  through  the 
Mexican  land  grants,  then  the  railroad  grants,  and 
the  private  entry  and  scrip  locations.  He  fearlessly 
exposes  the  manifest  injustice  to  the  great  masses  of 
the  people  in  these  monopolizations,  and  then  pro- 
ceeds to  an  arraignment  of  the  State  for  its  manage- 
ment of  State  lands,  swamp  lands,  etc.,  and  makes 
specific  charges  against  certain  land  grabbers  who,  he 
claims,  by  fraud  secured  from  twenty  thousand  acres 
to  over  one  hundred  thousand  acres  each.  Then, 
after  giving  a  short  list  of  those  who  own  some  "  two 
million  acres  apiece,"  others  three  or  four  hundred 
thousand  acres,  one  firm  four  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  acres,  "  around  one  patch  of  which, 


HENRY  GEORGE  407 

alone,  they  have  one  hundred  and  sixty  miles  of 
fence,"  and  so  on,  down  to  those  who  hold  but  the 
small  amount  of  from  eighty  thousand  to  twenty 
thousand  acres,  he  says,  speaking  of  this  latter 
class:  "  They  are  so  numerous,  that,  though  I  have  a 
long  list,  I  am  afraid  to  name  them  for  fear  of  making 
invidious  distinctions."  Then  he  continues:  "These 
men  are  the  lords  of  California  —  lords  as  truly  as 
ever  were  ribboned  dukes  or  belted  barons  in  any 
country  under  the  sun.  We  have  discarded  the  titles 
of  an  earlier  age,  but  we  have  preserved  the  sub- 
stance. .  .  .  They  are  our  Land  Lords  just  as  truly. 
If  they  do  not  exert  the  same  influence,  and  wield  the 
same  power,  and  enjoy  the  same  wealth,  it  is  merely 
because  our  population  is  but  six  hundred  thousand, 
and  their  tenantry  have  not  yet  arrived.  Of  the  mil- 
lions of  acres  of  our  virgin  soil  which  their  vast  domains 
enclose,  they  are  absolute  masters,  and  upon  it  no 
human  creature  can  come,  save  by  their  permission 
and  upon  their  terms.  From  the  zenith  above,  to  the 
centre  of  the  earth  below  (so  our  laws  run),  the  uni- 
verse is  theirs." 

That  Mr.  George  was  not  a  blatant  demagogue 
closing  his  eyes  to  facts  is  proven  by  the  concluding 
paragraphs  to  this  portion  of  his  argument.  He  says: 
"  Let  me  not  be  understood  as  reproaching  the  men 
who  have  honestly  acquired  large  tracts  of  land.  As 
the  world  goes  they  are  not  to  be  blamed.  If  the 
people  put  saddles  on  their  backs,  they  must  ex- 
pect somebody  to  jump  astride  to  ride.  If  we  must 
have  an  aristocracy,  I  would  prefer  that  my  children 


4o8  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

should  be  members  of  it  rather  than  of  the  common 
herd.  While  as  for  the  men  who  have  resorted  to 
dishonest  means,  the  probabilities  are  that  most  of 
them  enjoy  more  of  the  respect  of  their  fellows,  and 
its  fruits,  than ,  if  they  had  been  honest  and  got  less 
land." 

The  balance  of  his  pamphlet  is  then  devoted  to  the 
philosophical  discussion  that  later  eventuated  in  his  well- 
known  land  theories,  which  it  is  not  my  purpose  to 
discuss  in  these  pages,  save,  later,  to  state  merely 
their  broad,  general  principles. 

His  theories  once  given  to  the  world,  he  was  called 
upon  frequently  to  expound  and  enlarge  upon  them, 
both  in  public  and  private,  by  voice  and  pen.  His 
first  formal  speech  on  the  subject  was  given  in  August, 
1876,  at  Dashaway  Hall,  San  Francisco,  when  he  was 
thirty-seven  years  old.  He  saw  therein  another  en- 
larged opportunity  for  propagating  his  ideas,  and  from 
that  time  forward  deliberately  trained  himself  as  a 
public  speaker.  The  following  year  he  was  invited 
to  lecture  at  the  University  of  California  on  Political 
Economy.  He  steered  clear  of  all  unsettled  questions, 
and  stated  that  what  he  had  to  say  was  more  suggestive 
than  didactic.  Yet  he  did  not  hesitate,  in  his  direct 
and  unmistakable  fashion,  to  condemn  the  writers 
of  text-books  on  political  economy  for  their  conscious 
or  unconscious  upholding  of  the  whole  capitalistic 
system,  thus  antagonizing  the  feelings  and  prejudices 
of  those  who  had  most  to  gain  by  a  study  of  such 
books. 

Said  he:  "  The  name  of  political  economy  has  been 


HENRY  GEORGE  409 

constantly  invoked  against  every  effort  of  the  working 
classes  to  increase  their  wages  or  decrease  their  hours 
of  labor.  .  .  .  Take  the  best  and  most  extensively 
circulated  text-books.  While  they  insist  upon  freedom 
for  capital,  while  they  seek  to  justify  on  the  ground 
of  utility  the  selfish  greed  that  seeks  to  pile  fortune 
on  fortune,  and  the  niggard  spirit  that  steels  the  heart 
to  the  wail  of  distress,  what  sign  of  substantial  promise 
do  they  hold  out  to  the  working  man  save  that  he 
should  refrain  from  rearing  children? 

"  What  can  we  expect  when  hands  that  should 
offer  bread  thus  hold  out  a  stone?  Is  it  in  human 
nature  that  the  masses  of  men,  vaguely  but  keenly 
conscious  of  the  injustice  of  social  conditions,  feeling 
that  they  are  somehow  cramped  and  hurt,  without 
knowing  what  cramps  and  hurts  them,  should  wel- 
come truth  in  this  partial  form;  that  they  should 
take  to  a  science  which,  as  it  is  presented  to  them, 
seems  but  to  justify  injustice,  to  canonize  selfishness 
by  throwing  around  it  the  halo  of  utility,  and  to  present 
Herod  rather  than  Vincent  de  Paul  as  the  typical  bene- 
factor of  humanity  ?  " 

Speaking  of  the  simplicity  of  the  science,  he  must 
have  made  the  learned  professors  feel  quite  uncom- 
fortable : 

"  For  the  study  of  political  economy  you  need  no 
special  knowledge,  no  extensive  library,  no  costly 
laboratory.  You  do  not  even  need  text-books  nor 
teachers,  if  you  will  but  think  for  yourselves.  All 
that  you  need  is  care  in  reducing  complex  phenomena 
to  their  elements,  in  distinguishing  the  essential  from 


4io  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

the  accidental,  and  in  applying  the  simple  laws  of 
human  action  with  which  you  are  familiar.  Take 
nobody's  opinion  for  granted;  '  try  all  things;  hold 
fast  that  which  is  good.'  In  this  way  the  opinions  of 
others  will  help  you  by  their  suggestions,  elucidations, 
and  corrections;  otherwise  they  will  be  to  you  but 
as  words  to  a  parrot.  .  .  .  All  this  array  of  professors, 
all  this  paraphernalia  of  learning,  cannot  educate 
a  man.  They  can  but  help  him  to  educate  himself. 
Here  you  may  obtain  the  tools;  but  they  will  be  useful 
only  to  him  who  can  use  them.  A  monkey  with  a  mi- 
croscope, a  mule  packing  a  library,  are  fit  emblems  of 
the  men  —  and  unfortunately,  they  are  plenty  — 
who  pass  through  the  whole  educational  machinery 
and  come  out  but  learned  fools,  crammed  with  knowl- 
edge which  they  cannot  use,  all  the  more  pitiable,  all 
the  more  contemptible,  all  the  more  in  the  way  of 
real  progress,  because  they  pass,  with  themselves  and 
others,  as  educated  men." 

This  university  address  was  followed  by  a  Fourth 
of  July  oration  devoted  to  "  Liberty,"  which,  in  view 
of  his  later  teachings,  can  only  be  regarded  as  one  of 
the  opportunities  offered  him  for  clearer  formulation 
of  his  thought.  It  was  a  scathing  denunciation,  though 
veiled  to  many  who  heard  it  in  the  flowers  of  rhetoric, 
of  those  who  apostrophized  Liberty  with  their  tongues, 
but  in  their  lives  worshipped  only  that  god  that  gave 
them  liberty  to  tyrannize  over  their  fellows. 

Now  occurred  a  period  of  great  financial  depression 
throughout  the  whole  country,  and  California  felt  it 
keenly.  To  Henry  George  it  brought  distress  and 


HENRY  GEORGE  4n 

poverty  for  a  time,  yet  out  of  that  distress  was  born 
the  book  Progress  and  Poverty  that  was  to  give  an 
uplift  to  the  political  morals  of  the  world.  He  began 
to  write  in  September,  1877.  His  original  intention  was 
to  prepare  a  magazine  article  dealing  with  the  fact 
that,  as  humanity  progressed  materially,  it  seemed 
unable  to  prevent  increasing  poverty.  Writing  about 
the  thoughts  of  his  heart  with  a  daring  courage,  he 
attacked  the  "  most  gigantic  vested  right  in  the  world," 
—  land  monopoly.  At  the  same  time  he  seemed  bathed 
in  an  atmosphere  of  his  own  creation  which  carried 
sympathy  for  his  fellows  wherever  he  went.  As  his 
biographer  says:  "  Sympathy  was,  perhaps,  Henry 
George's  predominant  trait  of  character.  It  had  made 
him  heartsick  at  sight  of  the  want  and  suffering  in  the 
great  city;  it  had  impelled  him  to  search  for  the  cause 
and  the  cure.  In  the  bonds  of  friendship  it  carried 
him  into  the  other's  thoughts  and  feelings.  Intuitively 
he  put  himself  into  the  other  man's  place  and  looked 
at  the  world  through  those  other  eyes.  .  .  .  He  had 
not  studied  man  from  the  closet.  He  had  all  his  rugged 
life  been  at  school  with  humanity,  and  to  him  the  type 
of  humanity  was  the  common  man.  Civilization  built 
up  from  the  common  man,  flourished  as  the  common 
man  flourished,  decayed  and  fell  with  the  common 
man's  loss  of  independence.  He  himself  had  climbed 
out  on  swaying  yards  like  the  commonest  sailor,  car- 
ried his  blankets  as  a  prospector  and  common  miner, 
felt  something  of  the  hardships  of  farming,  tramped 
dusty  roads  as  a  pedlar,  had  every  experience  as  a 
printer,  and  suffered  the  physical  and  mental  tortures  of 


4i2  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

hunger.  Learning  and  pride  and  power  and  tradition 
and  precedent  went  for  little  with  him;  the  human 
heart,  the  moral  purpose,  became  the  core  thing." 

For  a  year  and  a  half  he  thought  and  studied,  wrote 
and  rewrote.  None  knew  that  he  was  working  on  a 
book  that  should  shake  the  greed  of  the  world;  he 
himself  only  knew  that  he  was  declaring  what  he  felt 
was  a  higher  truth  than  man  had  yet  seen;  and  to 
not  a  soul  did  he  explain  that  his  writing  was  the  result 
of  a  vision  and  a  vow  to  which  his  soul  demanded  that 
he  be  true.  When  the  book  was  finally  completed,  he 
flung  himself  upon  his  knees  in  his  solitude  and  wept  like 
a  child,  committing  the  results  to  God.  This  was  learned 
after  his  death  from  a  letter  he  wrote  to  a  religious  friend. 

Now  came  the  task  of  finding  a  publisher.  The 
Appletons,  Harpers  and  others  refused  it  on  various 
grounds,  but  mainly  because  it  was  too  revolutionary. 
So  at  last  he  and  his  friends  went  to  the  cases  and  set 
it  up  themselves,  had  plates  made,  and  the  first  edition 
was  printed  in  San  Francisco  under  the  title :  Political 
Economy  of  the  Social  Problem.  An  interesting  fact 
in  connection  with  this  home-made  edition  is  that 
his  closest  friend  and  helper,  both  at  the  type  stand  and 
the  desk,  was  Dr.  Edward  Robeson  Taylor,  poet  and 
humanitarian,  later  the  reform  mayor  of  San  Fran- 
cisco after  the  downfall  of  Schmitz.  Mr.  James  H. 
Barry,  for  many  years  the  editor  of  the  San  Francisco 
Star,  also  helped  him  set  type  and  print  this  edition. 

Two  weeks  after  he  sent  a  copy  of  the  San  Francisco 
edition  to  his  father  in  Philadelphia,  the  Appletons  wrote 
that  they  were  now  ready  to  publish  it  on  a  royalty  basis. 


HENRY  GEORGE  413 

Among  letters  received  from  notable  men  to  whom 
he  sent  his  first  edition  was  one  from  Sir  George  Grey 
of  New  Zealand,  the  country  which  afterwards  based 
its  land  policies  entirely  upon  the  principles  George 
had  enunciated.  Sir  George  wrote:  "I  have  already 
read  a  large  part  of  the  book.  I  regard  it  as  one  of  the 
ablest  works  on  the  great  questions  of  the  time,  which 
has  come  under  my  notice.  It  will  be  of  great  use  to  me. 
...  It  has  cheered  me  much  to  find  that  there  is  so  able 
a  man  working  in  California,  upon  subjects  on  which  I 
believe  the  whole  future  of  mankind  now  mainly  hangs." 

While  the  book  is  a  large  book  of  over  five  hundred 
pages,  it  is  mainly  an  exemplification  of  the  matter 
presented  in  his  pamphlet  of  1871  —  Our  Land  and 
Land  Policy  — •  already  discussed.  Poverty  and  its 
causes,  the  present  distribution  of  wealth,  and  the 
effect  of  material  progress  upon  such  distribution, 
bring  the  reader  to  the  presentation  of  the  remedy.  As 
he  says  in  his  Introduction:  "This  identification  of 
the  cause  that  associates  poverty  with  progress  points 
to  the  remedy,  but  it  is  to  so  radical  a  remedy  that  I 
have  next  deemed  it  necessary  to  inquire  whether  there 
is  any  other  remedy.  Beginning  the  investigation  again 
from  another  starting-point,  I  have  passed  in  examina- 
tion the  measures  and  tendencies  currently  advocated 
or  trusted  in  for  the  improvement  of  the  condition  of  the 
laboring  masses.  The  result  of  this  investigation  is 
to  prove  the  preceding  one,  as  it  shows  that  nothing 
short  of  making  land  common  property  can  permanently 
relieve  poverty  and  check  the  tendency  of  wages  to  the 
starvation- point." 


4H  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

Whatever  one  may  think  of  this  conclusion,  the  book 
is  a  wonderful  book.  It  is  a  classic  as  cogent  and 
powerful  as  Adam  Smith's  Wealth  o]  Nations,  or  John 
Stuart  Mill's  Political  Economy,  with  far  more  of 
red  blood,  human  sympathy  and  democratic  principle. 
Some  chapters,  especially  the  last,  on  "  The  Problem 
of  Individual  Life,"  are  thrilling  in  the  extreme,  and 
call  upon  the  laggards,  the  selfish  and  the  indifferent 
with  trumpet  tones  for  higher,  nobler,  better  living. 

At  first  it  won  its  way  slowly  into  public  favor,  and 
then  with  bounds  and  leaps.  It  was  later  followed  with 
other  contributions  upon  the  same  subject,  and  as 
George  himself  grew  more  sure  —  not  of  his  subject, 
but  of  his  method  of  public  presentation  —  he  became  a 
platform  propagandist  of  great  power. 

It  was  some  time  before  the  common  people  knew 
their  prophet,  and  the  truth  he  had  enunciated  for 
their  deliverance,  but  when  they  did  learn  it,  their 
confidence  and  affection  knew  no  bounds. 

It  needed  that  some  one  of  themselves,  not  trained 
in  the  schools  and  universities,  not  warped  by  the 
ideas  of  divine  right,  superior  class,  and  preservation 
of  the  existing  order,  not  imbued  with  the  wholly 
materialistic  idea  of  the  survival  of  the  fittest,  or  logical 
corollary  that  the  strong  physically  or  intellectually, 
have  the  right,  because  they  have  the  power,  to  control 
the  weak,  one  who  did  not  accept  Pope's  dictum  that 
"  Whatever  is,  is  right,"  but  one  who  believed  in  the 
teaching  of  Him  who  said:  "All  things  whatsoever 
ye  would  that  men  should  do  to  you,  do  ye  even  so 
to  them; "  I  say  it  needed  that  some  one  who  had 


HENRY  GEORGE  415 

not  beerr  brought  up  to  regard  wealth  and  its  con- 
sequent luxury  as  his  "  divinely  ordered  "  right,  but 
one  who  was  poor  and  lowly  and  a  worker  should 
become  their  champion.  How  else  could  their  cause 
be  presented  save  by  one  who  knew  it  as  his  every-day 
life?  No  man  can  knowingly  write  on  all  the  phases 
of  political  economy  who  does  not  himself  belong  or 
has  not  belonged  to  the  great  working  masses  of  the 
people. 

Henry  George  was  truly  one  of  the  masses.  His  great 
heart  throbbed  as  did  that  of  the  Master's  to  the  woes 
of  the  needy  and  oppressed,  and  when  they  knew  him 
"  the  common  people  heard  him  gladly." 

There  is  not  space  in  this  chapter  to  record  his 
journeyings  and  lecturings  to  and  fro  in  America, 
Canada,  England,  Ireland,  Australia,  and  "  around 
the  world."  He  lived  to  see  thousands  of  philosophers 
and  statesmen  converted,  in  the  main,  to  the  doctrines 
he  had  enunciated,  and  to-day  the  governments  of 
New  Zealand,  New  South  Wales,  and  other  English- 
speaking  peoples  are  largely  conducted  on  those  prin- 
ciples. The  great  political  conflict  that  raged  in  England 
in  the  winter  of  1909-1910  was  practically  upon  the  same 
ideas,  and  the  speeches  of  Lloyd  George,  the  English 
Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer,  were  thought  for  thought 
on  the  lines  laid  down  by  his  great  American  name- 
sake. 

Writing,  lecturing,  and  entering  the  political  arena 
that  he  might  further  propagate  his  truth,  Henry 
George  used  up  his  vitality  and  power,  until,  in  the 
mayoralty  campaign  in  New  York,  in  1897,  he  was 


4i6  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

stricken  with  apoplexy,  October  28,  and  passed  on 
to  his  reward. 

At  once,  from  all  parts  of  the  world,  came  words  of 
appreciation,  —  none  truer  than  these  from  one  of  the 
New  York  City  papers  that  had  strongly  opposed  his 
candidacy:  "  He  was  a  tribune  of  the  people,  poor  for 
their  sake,  when  he  might  have  been  rich  by  merely 
compromising;  without  official  position  for  their  sake, 
when  he  might  have  had  high  offices  by  merely  yielding 
a  part  of  his  convictions  to  expediency.  All  his  life 
long  he  spoke  and  wrote  and  thought  and  prayed  and 
dreamed  of  one  thing  only  —  the  cause  of  the  plain 
people  against  corruption  and  despotism.  And  he 
died  with  his  armor  on,  with  his  sword  flashing,  in  the 
front  of  the  battle,  scaling  the  breastworks  of  intrenched 
corruption  and  despotism.  He  died  as  he  lived.  He 
died  a  hero's  death.  He  died  as  he  would  have  wished 
to  die  —  on  the  battlefield,  spending  his  last  strength 
in  a  blow  at  the  enemies  of  the  people.  Fearless, 
honest,  unsullied,  uncompromising  Henry  George! " 

On  the  tablet  that  covers  his  grave  in  Greenwood 
Cemetery  are  placed  these  words  from  Progress  and 
Poverty,  that  he  had  written  years  before: 


"  'THE  truth  that  I  baoe  tried  to  make  clear 
will  not  find  easy  acceptance.  If  that 
could  be,  it  would  have  been  accepted  long  ago. 
If  that  could  be,  it  would  never  have  been  ob- 
scured. But  it  will  find  friends  —  those  who 
will  toil  for  it;  suffer  for  it;  if  need  be,  die  for  it. 
This  is  the  power  of  Truth." 


CHAPTER   XXXVII 

THE    INVENTIVE    HERO    OF    MOUNT    LOWE, 
THAPDEUS    S.     C.    LOWE 

TN  this  age  of  wealth- worship  it  is  a  great  thing  for 
*•  a  man  of  inventive  genius  to  devote  his  wonderful 
powers  to  the  good  of  his  fellow- men;  to  bring  to  them 
at  a  small  cost  added  comfort,  joy,  ease,  content.  It 
is  a  greater  thing  to  so  control  his  inventions  that  rich 
corporations  cannot  monopolize  them  and  thus  use 
them  for  their  own  enrichment.  A  man  who  can  and 
does  achieve  both  these  results  is  surely  one  whom  the 
great  world  should  delight  to  honor.  And  such  an  one 
is  Professor  Thaddeus  S.  C.  Lowe,  who,  from  a  child- 
hood of  hardship  and  poverty,  won  his  way  to  a  place 
ot  honor  in  the  world's  regard  by  his  inventive  genius, 
the  results  of  which  he  resolutely  devoted  to  the  good 
of  the  common  people. 

It  is  given  to  but  few  men  to  do  as  much  for  their, 
fellows  in  so  many  ways  as  has  fallen  to  the  lot  of 
Professor  T.  S.  C.  Lowe,  now  of  Pasadena,  California. 
Born  August  20,  1832,  at  the  little  town  of  Jefferson 
Mills.  New  Hampshire,  he  endured  a  greater  share  of 
hardships  than  most  poor  suffered  in  those  early  days. 
He  was  one  of  several  children,  and  his  father,  owing  to 
untoward  circumstances  over  which  he  had  no  control, 
was  compelled  to  leave  the  brave  and  stout-hearted 


4i8  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

mother  to  bring  up  the  little  flock.  With  a  love  as 
wise  as  it  was  tender  she  did  all  she  knew  how  to  keep 
the  wolf  from  the  door  and  to  train  her  children  in 
virtue  and  honest  labor.  But  the  struggle  was  too 
hard  to  be  maintained  alone,  so,  after  many  bitter 
tears  on  her  part,  it  was  decided  that  Thaddeus  must 
be  "  bound  out  "  to  a  near  by  farmer.  Thaddeus,  a 
sturdy,  thoughtful,  fearless  youngster,  zealously  anxious 
to  relieve  his  mother  of  any  extra  burden,  made  light 
of  her  fears  and  anxieties  and  refused  to  see  any  great 
hardship  in  having  to  leave  home  and  go  out  to  work  for 
a  neighbor.  But  he  rested  too  much  in  the  expectation 
that  others  would  treat  him  with  the  same  gentle  and 
kindly  consideration  that  his  noble  mother  had  ac- 
corded him.  It  wras  a  rude  awakening  to  the  high- 
strung  lad  to  find  that  honest  work  was  not  all  that 
some  men  required  of  their  "  hands."  Abuse  and 
rudeness  must  be  expected  and  quietly  suffered,  for 
kindness  and  sympathetic  friendliness  were  opposed, 
in  the  minds  of  such  men,  to  good  discipline  and  to  a 
preservation  of  the  proper  distance  that  should  exist 
between  "  master  "  and  "  servant."  But  such  ideas 
were  as  poison  to  the  clear  brain  of  the  democratic 
young  Thaddeus.  He  punctured  the  claims  of  caste 
as  readily  as  he  was  ultimately  to  puncture  the  old- 
fashioned  claims  of  certain  scientists,  for  one  early 
morning,  after  talking  the  matter  over  with  his  bosom 
friend,  Nathan  Perkins,  afterwards  recognized  as  one 
of  New  Hampshire's  distinguished  and  noble  sons,  he 
started  away  from  his  native  village,  his  whole  worldly 
possessions  wrapped  up  in  a  handkerchief,  and  his 


THADDEUS  S.  C.  LOWE  419 

whole  fortune  of  eleven  cents  hidden  deep  in  his 
pocket. 

To  recount  all  his  early  struggles,  failures  and  tri- 
umphs is  here  impossible.  His  early  history  reads  like 
a  romance,  and  is  full  of  instructive  lessons  to  the 
growing  youth  of  our  land.  Step  by  step,  in  the  face 
of  great  obstacles,  he  worked  his  way  upward  and 
onward.  Nothing  daunted  him.  Ever  alert,  ever  will- 
ing to  do  any  good  and  honest  work,  he  was  not  content 
to  do  things  as  others  did  them,  and  early  revealed 
that  inventive  genius  that  has  since  been  turned  to  such 
good  use  for  the  benefit  of  mankind.  Every  available 
moment  outside  of  the  time  required  for  his  duties 
was  expended  in  study,  and  soon  his  knowledge  of 
herbs,  of  chemistry  and  anatomy,  and  of  practical 
surgery  learned  from  his  wise  old  grandmother,  was 
called  upon  by  the  simple-hearted  neighbors,  and  he 
gamed  quite  a  reputation  as  a  healer  of  disease  and 
a  mender  of  broken  bones. 

Before  his  twentieth  year  he  had  saved  enough  to 
gratify  his  desire  for  seeing  more  of  the  world  than  or- 
dinarily falls  to  the  lot  of  a  poor  lad ;  and  for  his  wedding 
trip  —  he  married  young  —  he  journeyed  from  Zanes- 
ville,  Ohio,  down  the  Muskingham  and  Ohio  rivers, 
into  the  Mississippi  and  to  New  Orleans,  Louisiana, 
giving  lectures  on  the  way,  and  incidentally  studying 
the  country  and  people  of  the  South, 

When  he  returned  to  New  England,  it  was  to  resume 
his  studies  of  chemistry  with  greater  fervor  than  before, 
and  in  connection  with  this  study  he  soon  saw  an  op- 
portunity to  gratify  a  desire  that  was  one  of  the  earliest 


420  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

emotions  of  his  young  and  active  mind.  Even  as  a  young 
child  the  wonderful  movements  of  the  clouds,  and  the 
changes  of  the  weather  had  ever  interested  him.  Born 
right  in  the  heart  of  the  White  Mountains,  Mount 
Washington  and  all  the  Presidential  Range  being  in 
sight  from  his  mother's  door,  he  watched  the  floating 
clouds  of  both  winter  and  summer,  saw  them  at  times 
sail  away,  at  another  hang  like  banners  to  the  mountain 
summits,  then  again,  discharge  their  contents  as  hail, 
sleet,  snow  or  rain,  while  at  still  other  times  they  were 
dissipated  into  impalpable  mist  by  the  heat  of  the 
summer  sun ;  and  he  came  to  the  conclusion  that  there 
were  wonderful  secrets  of  the  upper  air  that  he  would 
like  to  penetrate,  that  would  doubtless  explain  these 
wonderful,  though  common  and  everyday  phenomena. 
As  a  chemist,  he  learned  the  properties  of  gas  and  saw 
how  a  balloon  could  be  best  constructed  and  filled, 
and,  no  sooner  was  his  vivid  imagination  stirred  by  vis- 
ions of  ascending  into  the  upper  atmosphere  and  study- 
ing the  conditions  he  found  there,  than  he  proceeded 
to  the  construction  of  a  balloon.  Soon  he  was  making 
regular  ascensions.  Then  the  failure  of  the  Atlantic 
Cable  gave  him  another  inspiration.  Why  not  use 
the  balloon  to  cross  the  Atlantic,  and  thus  give  to  mer- 
chants and  others  the  news  they  so  urgently  needed. 
Distinguished  people  in  Philadelphia,  whom  he  had 
interested,  including  such  men  as  George  W.  Childs 
and  Professor  John  C.  Cresson,  suggested  that  he  apply 
to  Professor  Joseph  Henry,  of  the  Smithsonian  Institu- 
tion, for  aid  in  furthering  this  laudable  and  practical 
project,  and  in  a  number  of  interviews  the  distinguished 


THADDEUS  S.  C  LOWE  421 

savant  made  himself  fully  cognizant  of  young  Lowe's 
far-reaching  ideas.  He  saw  that  here  was  a  mind 
different  from  the  ordinary,  and  found  great  delight 
in  drawing  him  out.  He  discovered  that  the  young 
aeronaut  had  already  learned  some  things  of  the  upper 
atmosphere,  and  that  he  believed  there  existed  a  steady 
upper  air  current  that  invariably  moved  eastward,  no 
matter  how  diverse,  opposite  or  complex  the  wind 
movements  on  the  earth's  surface  might  be. 

"  Prove  to  me  the  existence  of  that  eastward  current, 
without  risking  your  life  on  the  Atlantic  ocean,"  said 
Professor  Henry,  "  and  I'll  find  you  the  means  of 
crossing  the  Atlantic  in  your  balloon." 

"How  shall  I  do  it  to  satisfy  you?"  queried  the 
urgent  young  student. 

"  Go  a  thousand  miles  inland,  wait  until  all  the  earth 
currents  are  blowing  westward.  Then  make  an  ascent 
in  a  small  balloon,  and  travel  eastward  and  I'll  be 
satisfied,"  responded  the  savant'. 

Young  Lowe  didn't  wait  an  hour.  He  went  to 
Cincinnati  as  quickly  as  he  could  go,  taking  with  him 
a  balloon  of  the  size  needed  for  the  experiment.  The 
telegraph  service  was  placed  at  his  disposal  and  reports 
of  wind  conditions  regularly  made  to  him.  The  balloon 
was  filled  with  gas  and  anchored  ready  to  make  the 
ascent  at  a  moment's  notice.  Day  after  day  passed. 
One  evening  he  was  at  a  banquet  given  hi  his  honor  by 
Mr.  Potter,  the  owner  of  the  Cincinnati  Commercial, 
at  which  Murat  Halsted,  the  distinguished  editor, 
and  many  of  Cincinnati's  notable  men  were  present, 
when  the  welcome  news  was  brought  that  the  wind  cur- 


422  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

rents  were  all  blowing  westward.  Without  waiting  to 
change  his  society  clothes  for  those  more  appropriate 
for  a  balloon  ascent,  and  still  wearing  his  silk  hat,  he 
hurried  down  to  the  balloon,  accompanied  by  his  fellow 
banqueters,  Mr.  Halsted  bringing  down  with  him 
a  large  demijohn  filled  with  hot  coffee.  At  Mr.  Potter's 
request,  Mr.  Halsted  wrote  a  brief  notice  of  the  ascension 
and  Professor  Lowe  waited  until  three  o'clock  in  the 
morning  to  allow  the  pressmen  to  insert  this  notice 
in  the  Commercial  and  run  off  two  or  three  hundred 
copies  which  he  could  carry  away  in  the  balloon.  It  was 
fortunate  for  him  that  this  was  done,  as  a  few  hours 
later  it  saved  him  from  being  shot  as  a  Federal  spy, 
as  I  will  soon  relate. 

In  the  meantime,  when  the  Cincinnati  people  read 
their  morning  papers,  they  were  amused  by  the  state- 
ment that  "  Professor  Lowe's  balloon,  which  had  as- 
cended to  prove  the  existence  of  a  perpetual  current 
blowing  to  the  east,  when  last  seen  was  rapidly  traveling 
•westward." 

But  the  darkness  of  the  early  morning  didn't  allow 
the  newspaper  men  to  see  long  enough.  While  the 
balloon  did  travel  very  rapidly  to  the  west  when  it 
first  ascended,  it  was  not  long  before  it  reached  the 
eastward  current,  and  then  Professor  Lowe  made  the 
historic  trip  for  which  he  will  ever  be  remembered. 
When  he  struck  the  Alleghany  Mountains  he  bounded 
over  a  mile  into  the  upper  air,  and  then,  striking  the  cur- 
rent between  this  range  and  the  Blue  Ridge,  he  was 
drawn  slightly  to  the  south  and  descended  at  noon  on 
the  coast  of  South  Carolina,  having  traveled  a  distance 


THADDEUS  S.  C  LOWE  423 

of  eight  hundred  miles  in  nine  hours.  Returning  inland 
a  little  distance,  by  means  of  a  westerly  current,  he 
landed  among  some  of  the  "  Clay  Eaters,"  who,  as  the 
war  had  just  broken  out,  vowed  he  was  a  spy  from  Fort 
Pickens.  It  required  both  nerve  and  persuasive  power 
to  convince  those  people  of  their  error,  but  they  finally 
consented  to  take  him  to  Unionville,  twenty-five  miles 
away,  which  was  the  nearest  railway  point.  When  the 
wagon  came  it  was  drawn  by  six  mules.  Professor 
Lowe  asked  why  they  brought  six  animals  for  so  small 
a  load,  and  they  said  that  when  they  saw  the  balloon 
(in  its  inflated  condition)  they  thought  it  would  require 
at  least  that  number  of  animals  to  draw  so  ponderous  a 
thing.  They  were  wonderfully  surprised  to  see  it  in  its 
collapsed  condition.  Seated  on  the  balloon  (to  ease 
the  jolting  of  the  rough  roads),  with  his  silk  "  tile  " 
upon  his  head,  Professor  Lowe  began  to  laugh  at  his 
own  comical  appearance,  but  laughter  soon  ceased  when 
a  dozen  or  more  men,  each  armed  with  a  revolver  and 
Winchester  rifle,  grimly  and  silently  surrounded  the 
wagon.  He  saw  he  was  still  regarded  as  a  spy  and  that 
any  suspicious  movement  would  mean  instant  death. 
On  his  arrival  at  Unionville,  however,  he  fell  among 
friends.  One  of  them,  seeing  the  newspapers  which 
Professor  Lowe  finally  handed  to  him,  explained. 
"  This  settles  it  all  right.  This  paper  is  still  damp  from 
the  press.  It's  a  strange  story.  Eight  hundred  miles 
in  nine  hours,  but  we're  compelled  to  believe  it."  Ac- 
cordingly the  "  spy  "  was  released  and  sent  on  his  way 
to  Columbia.  Here  he  was  again  arrested  and  jailed, 
and  would  have  had  an  awkward  time  had  it  not  been  for 


424  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

the  friendly  interference  of  the  president  and  professors 
of  the  college,  who  were  acquainted  with  the  purely 
scientific  nature  of  Professor  Lowe's  work,  and  knew 
that  it  had  absolutely  nothing  to  do  with  the  war. 

His  adventures,  however,  at  this  time,  were  thrilling 
and  exciting  enough  to  stir  the  blood  of  the  most  slug- 
gish, and  they  undoubtedly  turned  his  active  brain  into 
the  very  direction  for  wrhich  the  southern  men  had 
arrested  him.  It  was  now  that  his  dominant  genius  be- 
gan to  assert  itself.  He  was  but  twenty-eight  years  old, 
yet  while  the  fires  of  hatred  were  being  fanned  by  the 
wild  utterances  of  men  wTho  did  not  realize  the  horrors 
of  such  a  fratricidal  war,  he,  with  a  soul  full  of  zeal  for 
the  preservation  of  the  Union,  began  to  exercise  his 
intellect  to  the  utmost  to  formulate  a  plan  whereby  his 
knowledge  of  ballooning  might  be  made  of  service  to  his 
beloved  country.  For  he  was  a  patriot,  in  the  larger, 
truer  sense,  from  his  birth.  Every  fibre  of  his  being 
thrilled  with  the  joy  of  true  democracy.  He  was  him- 
self of  the  common  people;  he  believed  in  them,  if  they 
had  a  fair  chance;  he  saw  that  if  the  principles  of  the 
founders  of  this  country  were  carried  out,  the  poor  and 
lowly  would  here  have  as  large  and  good  opportunites  for 
improvement  as  the  high,  the  educated  and  the  rich,  if 
they  chose  to  work  hard  to  utilize  them,  hence  he  burned 
with  an  intense,  zealous  earnestness  to  do  his  part  in 
helping  preserve  the  Union,  to  which  his  whole  heart 
and  mind  were  so  devotedly  attached.  Professor  Henry 
and  President  Lincoln  sent  for  him  as  soon  as  his  return 
to  Cincinnati  was  known,  and  the  upshot  of  their  con- 
ferences was  that  this  young  man,  self-taught  and  self- 


THADDEUS  S.  C.  LOWE  425 

reliant,  was  given  power  to  organize  the  first  Balloon 
Corps  for  military  operations  in  the  field  that  the  world 
had  ever  seen.  For  months  he  operated  for  the  different 
commanding  generals  under  the  direct  auspices  of  Presi- 
dent Lincoln,  making  daily  and  nightly  ascents,  witness- 
ing many  skirmishes  and  battles  and  giving  most  valu- 
able information  as  to  the  movements  of  the  enemy  that 
could  not  possibly  have  been  gained  from  any  other 
source.  He  invented  and  set  into  successful  operation 
methods  by  which  he  could  telegraph  from  his  balloon 
to  the  tent  of  the  commanding  general  in  the  field  below, 
thus  giving  accurate  and  detailed  description  of  events 
actually  transpiring  at  the  moment  the  news  was  re- 
ceived. 

His  chemical  studies  and  inventive  powers  also  came 
into  most  valuable  play.  He  soon  realized  that  the 
old  and  antiquated  methods  of  generating  gas  for  filling 
his  balloon  were  absolutely  impossible,  if  it  were  to 
become  a  practical  and  feasible  instrument  of  aid  in 
active  warfare.  The  exigencies  of  war  demanded  that 
the  balloon  be  transferable  at  will  to  any  part  of  the 
field,  or  even  to  distant  parts.  To  transfer  it,  filled  with 
gas,  was  impracticable,  yet  to  empty  it,  transfer  it  and 
then  generate  the  gas  for  refilling  was  equally  im- 
practicable. So  many  hours  were  required  to  generate 
gas  by  the  old  methods  that  any  ordinary  conflict  would 
begin,  be  fought  out  and  the  armies  moved,  before  so 
large  a  balloon  could  have  been  filled.  So  Professor  Lowe 
invented  and  constructed  retorts  on  wheels,  which 
could  be  drawn  anywhere,  and  by  means  of  which 
the  making  of  sufficient  gas  was  the  work  of  but  a  few 


426  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

minutes.  Thus  he  was  able  to  make  ascensions  almost, 
at  will  and  in  many  and  diverse  parts  of  the  scene  of 
operations.  At  all  hours  of  the  day  and  night  he  was 
ready.  Many  a  time  the  movements  of  the  enemy  were 
detected  by  this  novel  and  vigilant  watcher,  and  the 
Confederate  generals  made  desperate  efforts  both  to 
destroy  the  balloon  and  either  kill  or  capture  the  bal- 
loonist. Consequently  Professor  Lowe  was  given 
extraordinary  powers  by  his  commanding  officers,  and 
he  and  his  balloon  also  became  objects  of  great  interest 
to  the  enemy.  Time  and  again  their  sharp-shooters, 
both  of  the  infantry  and  artillery,  directed  their  fire 
upon  him,  but  while  they  were  getting  his  range  he 
went  on  coolly  making  his  observations,  knowing  that 
he  was  perfectly  safe  for  some  time,  and  that  the  mere 
pulling  of  a  string  would  release  the  gas  valve,  and  allow 
him  to  descend  a  little,  or  that  the  throwing  out  of  a  bag 
of  sand  ballast  wrould  send  him  up  higher,  the  changed 
position  in  either  case  putting  him  out  of  range  of  the 
enemy's  guns. 

He  operated  thus,  working  day  and  night  at  the  be- 
hest of  the  commanding  generals,  until  the  overwork, 
the  hardships  of  the  field  and  the  malaria  combined 
to  produce  a  condition  of  ill  health,  which  drove  him 
home  and  well-nigh  killed  him.  Even  to  this  day, 
in  spite  of  his  well  spent  and  abstemious  life,  he  still 
suffers  from  physical  ailments  fastened  upon  him  during 
that  time.  With  that  keen  foresight,  however,  which 
is  one  of  his  most  marked  characteristics,  he  had  pre- 
pared for  just  such  an  event  by  carefully  training  his 
subordinates  to  carry  on  his  work.  This  they  did  to  the 


THADDEUS  S.  C.  LOWE  427 

best  of  their  capacity,  so  that,  while  Professor  Lowe 
lay  on  his  bed  of  pain  and  affliction,  his  mind  was  at  ease 
with  the  assurance  that  the  plans  he  had  so  carefully 
formulated  were  being  carried  out  with  a  reasonable 
measure  of  success. 

Before  he  had  recovered  his  health  the  war  was 
brought  to  a  successful  close.  He  immediately  turned 
his  inventive  genius  to  work,  and  built  and  equipped  a 
floating  refrigerator,  the  first  steamship  in  the  history 
of  the  world  designed  for  the  purpose,  which  made  sev- 
eral trips  from  Galveston,  Texas,  to  New  York,  loaded 
with  Texas  beef,  etc.  This  was  the  origin  of  the  re- 
frigerator in  actual  commerce,  and  the  benefit  to  the 
people  of  this  invention  can  never  be  estimated.  By 
it  meats  and  fruits  and  other  perishable  food  products 
are  now  transported  from  one  part  of  the  world  to 
another,  either  by  land  or  sea,  without  injury  or  detri- 
ment. The  surplus  cattle  of  Texas  are  converted  into 
beef  and  shipped  wherever  needed,  the  strawberries 
of  Georgia  are  sent  to  the  North,  and  the  oranges  of 
Florida  and  California  to  every  town  and  hamlet  in 
in  the  country,  as  well  as  to  ports  all  over  the  civilized 
globe. 

And  yet  this  invention  was,  at  the  time  of  Professor 
Lowe's  presentation  of  it  to  the  world,  so  far  in  advance 
of  people's  knowledge  of  its  value,  that  he  personally 
not  only  derived  no  benefit  from  it,  but  actually  suffered 
most  heavy  financial  loss. 

It  was  equally  so  with  his  valuable  invention  for  the 
making  of  artificial  ice.  He  set  in  operation  several  of 
these  machines,  on  the  same  principle  that  they  are 


428  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

now  working,  viz.,  the  compression  of  ammonia,  etc., 
and  thus  made  it  possible  for  the  housewife  in  her  small 
refrigerator,  as  well  as  the  chefs  of  the  most  luxurious 
hotels,  to  keep  milk  sweet,  butter  hard  and  fresh,  meats 
and  vegetables  cool  and  pure,  no  matter  how  hot  the 
weather  might  be.  It  seems  impossible  to  measure  the 
benefit  this  invention  has  been  to  the  human  race,  yet 
I  feel  that  the  world  should  know  that, owing  to  its  being 
in  advance  of  its  time,  when  Professor  Lowe  figured 
up  his  profits  and  losses  on  the  giving  of  this  product 
of  his  genius  to  the  world,  he  was  eighty-seven  thousand 
dollars  in  debt,  independent  of  his  long  months  of  time 
and  exhaustive  labor,  and  this  debt  was  subsequently 
paid  by  him  out  of  the  profits  of  one  of  his  later  inven- 
tions. 

It  is  this  invention  to  which  attention  is  now  called. 
Disappointed  and  chagrined  at  his  experiences  in  trying 
to  bring  the  commercial  and  home  world  to  a  realization 
of  the  benefit  of  his  refrigerator  and  ice  inventions, 
he  vowed  he  would  never  again  invent  things  ahead  of 
his  times,  so  he  turned  his  attention  to  the  improvement 
of  present  methods  of  gas  supply.  In  this  field  he  is  the 
recognized  master  of  the  world.  His  varied  inventions 
for  the  making  of  gas  alone  entitle  him  to  the  undying 
gratitude  of  his  fellow  men.  For  not  only  has  it  light- 
ened the  labor  of  millions  of  the  toiling  women  of  earth; 
not  only  has  it  reduced  the  heating  of  a  room,  the  making 
of  a  fire  for  the  cooking  of  a  meal  to  the  mere  turning  of  a 
gas  cock  and  striking  a  match,  but  it  has  been  done 
in  such  a  way  that,  while  immense  fortunes  have  been 
made  by  thousands  of  men  as  the  result  of  investments  in 


THADDEUS  S.  C.  LOWE  429 

the  invention,  it  has  brought  down  the  prices  of  this 
useful  and  necessary  commodity  so  that  the  poorest  of 
the  poor  can  now  practically  have  light  and  heat  suffi- 
cient for  all  purposes. 

Allured  by  the  "  glorious  climate  of  California " 
Professor  Lowe  now  settled  down  in  the  beautiful  home 
city  of  Pasadena,  but  his  restless  energy  soon  compelled 
him  to  another  enterprise  which  has  endeared  him  to 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  tourists  and  travelers,  as  well 
as  to  the  nature  lovers  of  his  own  state.  In  sight  of  the 
magnificent  home  that  he  had  built  on  Orange  Grove 
Avenue  are  the  beautiful  peaks  of  the  Sierra  Madre 
range  of  mountains,  reaching  from  five  thousand  to 
eleven  thousand  feet  in  snow-clad  majesty  from  the  foot- 
hills to  the  clear  blue  of  the  Southern  California  sky. 
Save  for  a  few  steep  and  almost  impracticable  trails  all 
these  glorious  heights  were  inaccessible  to  the  majority 
of  people.  Knowing  their  sublime  beauty  and  re- 
membering the  enjoyment  of  the  thousands  who  yearly 
ride  up  the  railway  of  his  native  Mount  Washington,  he 
resolved  to  scale,  with  a  railway,  the  most  salient  of 
the  higher  peaks  near  Pasadena.  With  characteristic 
energy  his  surveyors  were  sent  into  the  field.  Three 
different  parties  reported  it  impossible  by  any  ordinary 
or  known  method  of  engineering  —  except  at  prohibitive 
expense  —  to  build  a  railway  to  the  peaks  he  had  chosen. 
But  to  Professor  Lowe,  as  to  Napoleon,  the  word  "  im- 
possible "  is  unknown.  He  determined  the  impossible. 
He  took  one  of  the  surveys  that  reached  from  Altadena 
into  the  heart  of  the  most  picturesque  canyon  of  the 
range  and  graded  and  built  the  railway  to  a  natural 


430  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

amphitheatre,  where  he  completely  bridged  the  canyon, 
erected  a  novel  structure,  which  combined  hotel,  dan- 
cing pavilion,  offices,  banquet  hall,  etc.,  and  then  made 
a  mile  or  more  of  the  canyon  accessible  by  means  of 
plank  walks  and  stairways,  leading  to  fernbeds,  moss 
grottos  and  several  exquisite  and  charming  waterfalls. 
The  next  desired  elevation  was  thirteen  hundred 
feet  above,  on  the  summit  of  Echo  Mountain.  How  to 
reach  it  was  the  question.  The  engineers  said  "  im- 
possible," unless  Professor  Lowre  was  willing  to  spend 
a  fortune  in  cutting  out  a  winding  shelf  to  and  fro 
on  the  steep  slopes.  But  this  determined  and  clear- 
sighted man,  taking  the  problem  into  his  own  hands, 
did  the  same  as  the  great  Alexander  of  Russia,  when, 
dissatisfied  with  the  engineers'  survey,  he  took  a  ruler 
and  drew  a  straight  line  on  the  map  from  St.  Petersburg 
to  Moscow,  exclaiming:  "There  is  the  route  of  my 
railway.  Now  proceed  to  build  it."  Professor  Lowe 
instructed  his  engineers  to  grade  an  incline  up  the  almost 
perpendicular  slope  from  Rubio  Pavilion  to  the  top 
of  Echo  Mountain.  They  knew  nothing  of  his  plans, 
but  simply  obeyed  orders.  When  the  grade  was  com- 
pleted he  ordered  ties  laid,  wide  enough  for  three  rails, 
except  midway  up  the  incline,  where  a  wider  track 
would  be  required  for  a  short  distance.  While  the 
grading  had  been  going  on  he  had  planned  a  three- 
railed  track,  upon  which  two  balanced  cars  should  ride, 
one  ascending,  the  other,  descending,  with  an  auto- 
matic and  fixed  turnout  in  the  centre,  and  this  was  now 
put  in  place.  A  perfect  hoisting  machine  had  been 
designed,  which,  as  it  revolved,  gripped  the  inch  and  a 


THADDEUS  S.  C.  LOWE  431 

half  steel  wire  cable  to  which  the  two  cars  were  built, 
and  thus  the  Great  Cable  Incline  became  an  assured 
fact,  and  for  seventeen  years  it  has  been  operated,  with- 
out the  stoppage  of  a  single  day,  and  without  accident 
or  injury  to  any  person  whatsoever. 

Still  interested  in  his  meteorological  researches,  Pro- 
fessor Lowe  now  secured  and  placed  upon  Echo 
Mountain  the  largest  search  light  hi  the  world,  intend- 
ing to  use  it  for  purposes  of  study  of  cloud  movements 
and  wind  currents.  Then,  a  few  hundred  feet  higher 
up,  he  built  and  thoroughly  equipped  the  Lowe  Astro- 
nomical Observatory,  which  he  placed  under  the  charge 
of  the  eminent  astronomer,  Dr.  Lewis  Swift,  who  has 
discovered  and  recorded  more  nebulae  than  any  other 
astronomer  since  the  Herschels. 

To  give  to  thousands  the  enjoyment  of  the  expansive 
view  from  Echo  Mountain  he  built  two  fine  hotels,  the 
Chalet,  and  Echo  Mountain  House,  and  here  guests 
were  entertained  and  privileged  to  gaze  upon  one  of  the 
most  beautiful  and  varied  scenes  in  the  world,  including 
the  orange,  lemon  and  other  orchards  of  the  San  Gabriel 
Valley,  with  the  score  of  towns  and  villages  that  dot  its 
surface,  the  mountains,  foot-hills,  further  valleys,  sea- 
beach,  islands  and  placid-faced  ocean. 

Now  his  genius  determined  to  reach  greater  heights, 
and  the  Alpine  Division  of  the  Mount  Lowe  railway 
was  cut  out  of  the  solid  granite  mountain  sides, 
equipped  and  set  in  operation.  This  division  opened 
up  to  public  enjoyment  the  great  canyons  of  the  Sierra 
Madre  and  reached  an  elevation  of  five  thousand  feet 
on  the  shoulders  of  the  mountain  that  the  officers 


432  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

of  the  Geological  Survey  decided  should  be  named 
Mount  Lowe.  Here,  another  large,  picturesque  and 
well-equipped  hotel,  Alpine  Tavern,  was  erected,  in 
the  heart  of  a  forest  of  pines,  spruces  and  sycamores. 

From  this  point  it  was  Professor  Lowe's  intention 
to  extend  the  railway  about  three  more  miles,  to  the 
summit  of  Mount  Lowe,  six  thousand  one  hundred 
feet  above  sea- level,  where  another  hotel,  built  of  the 
solid  granite  of  which  the  mountain  itself  is  composed, 
would  have  been  erected.  He  also  expected  to  estab- 
lish an  institution  for  the  furtherance  of  pure  and  com- 
mercial science,  parts  of  which  would  have  been  an- 
other astronomical  observatory,  with  the  largest  tele- 
scope \vhich  could  be  made,  and  a  chemical  laboratory 
equipped  fully  for  every  department  of  analytical  and 
experimental  work.  Then,  over  the  deep  and  mile  wide 
canyon  separating  Mount  Lowe  from  the  San  Gabriel 
(or  Observatory)  peak,  a  swinging  cable  railway  was 
planned.  Timid  and  doubtful  people  could  not  realize 
that  such  a  railway  is  both  practical  and  safe.  From 
suggestions  and  plans  furnished  by  Professor  Lowe 
several  of  such  aerial  railways  are  now  in  successful 
operation.  Perhaps  the  most  wonderful  of  them  all  is  in 
California,  plying  over  the  great  canyon  of  the  American 
River,  which  passengers  on  the  Central  Pacific  Railway 
will  remember  as  the  abyss  they  gaze  into  as  the 
trains  round  Cape  Horn.  Here,  cars  loaded  with  logs, 
weighing  scores  of  tons,  are  hourly  swung  across  the 
canyon,  where  trains  are  made  up  and  the  logs  drawn 
to  the  saw- mill.  The  empty  cars  are  returned  by  the 
same  method. 


THE    GREAT   INCLINE    ON   THE    MOUNT   LOWE    RAILWAY. 


Page  432 


z 

2    u; 

2  = 


THADDEUS  S.  C.  LOWE  433 

These  latter  plans,  however,  were  arrested  by  the 
financial  panic  of  1893,  at  which  time  Professor  Lowe 
relinquished  control  of  the  railway. 

Since  then  he  has  devoted  himself  to  the  perfect- 
ing of  another  great  invention,  now  successfully 
installed  in  a  working  plant  and  more  than  fulfill- 
ing his  most  sanguine  expectations.  By  means  of 
this  plant  he  takes  the  heavy  crude  petroleums 
and  refines  them  for  practical  uses.  Thirty-five 
per  cent  of  the  crude  oil  is  thus  made  to  pay  the 
original  cost  of  the  whole  amount  and  the  working 
expenses  of  the  refining  process.  The  residue  is  now 
made  to  yield  an  amount  of  asphaltum  which  more 
than  again  pays  the  original  cost  of  the  whole 
amount  of  oil.  In  the  processes  of  refining,  large 
amounts  of  tar  and  lamp-black  are  extracted,  and 
these  have  hitherto  been  regarded  as  almost  worth- 
less. By  this  new  process  a  mixture  of  these  worth- 
less by-products  is  converted,  in  nineteen  hours,  to 
the  most  hard,  solid  and  perfect  metallurgical  coke 
known.  Here  then  is  one  plant  performing  three 
successive  operations  with  the  same  crude  product  (in 
different  stages  of  manipulation),  each  one  of  which 
pays  the  whole  cost  of  the  operations  and  of  the  original 
product,  viz.,  refining  the  oil,  the  making  of  asphaltum, 
and  the  production  of  coke.  But  in  these  various 
processes  another  product  of  great  value  has  been 
generated  in  vast  quantity.  To  produce  the  results 
aforementioned  a  terrific  heat  has  had  to  be  created 
and  maintained.  At  this  great  temperature  not  only 
are  the  gases  in  the  oil  decomposed,  but  also  the  gases 


434  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

of  the  water  that  is  injected  into  the  ovens.  These  gases 
are  collected,  forced  through  a  washer  which  retains 
the  heavy  carbons,  known  as  lamp-black,  and  through 
the  scrubber,  which  removes  the  tar.  They  are  then 
condensed  and  purified  and  thus  become  the  purest 
and  best  of  illuminating  and  fuel  gas  ready  for  distribu- 
tion through  mains  and  pipes  to  the  various  consumers 
of  a  large  or  small  city.  The  gas  is  thus  practically 
a  free  gift  to  the  operators  of  the  plant. 

But  this  is  only  a  part  of  the  story.  In  all  coke- 
oven  systems  and  other  similar  plants,  where  immense 
heat  must  be  secured  and  maintained,  it  has  been  found 
impossible  hitherto  to  prevent  a  large  loss  of  heat 
through  the  flues  and  chimneys  necessary  for  the  draft, 
without  which  the  heat  could  not  be  obtained.  By  an 
ingenious,  practical  and  thoroughly  well-tested  system, 
Professor  Lowe  has  now  arrested  this  loss  of  heat,  and 
turns  it  to  good  account  by  generating  steam  which 
operates  large  engines,  produces  electric  power,  runs 
an  ice-making  and  also  a  refrigerating  plant,  and  also 
gives  to  the  operators  a  large  amount  of  steam  and 
electric  power  for  sale. 

By  means,  therefore,  of  this  plant,  a  large  or  small 
city  can  make  its  own  hard  fuel  (Lowe  anthracite  coke), 
asphaltum,  ice,  refrigeration  and  gas,  and  supply  all  the 
steam  and  electric  power  needed,  and  the  whole  thing 
be  run  under  one  management,  under  one  roof  and  at 
one  expense. 

Hence,  in  looking  over  this  one  man's  life,  we  find 
he  has  invented  and  given  to  the  world  the  following 
beneficial  and  useful  inventions  and  institutions. 


THADDEUS  S.  C.  LOWE  435 

1.  The  use  of  balloons  during  war  for  observations 
upon  the  movements  of  the  enemy. 

2.  Artificial  refrigeration  of  steamships,   and  rail- 
way cars  for  the  transportation  of  perishable  food 
products. 

3.  Artificial  Ice. 

4.  Cheaper  and  better  illuminating  gas. 

5.  The  Mount  Lowe  Railway. 

6.  The  Lowe  Observatory. 

7.  A  later  invention,  which    reduces    the    cost    of 
illuminating  and  fuel  gas  to  the  minimum. 

Is  it  any  wonder  then,  that,  in  his  native  village  of 
Jefferson  Mills  (now  Riverton,  New  Hampshire)  his 
seventy-fifth  birthday  was  made  the  occasion  of  a 
wonderful  demonstration  in  his  honor.  The  selectmen 
and  citizens  of  the  town  extended  invitations  to  the 
whole  countryside,  and  on  August  20,  1907,  a  salute  of 
seventy-five  guns  was  fired  from  a  battery  under 
the  control  of  the  veterans  of  Lancaster  and  neigh- 
boring cities.  After  appropriate  exercises,  when  a 
great  flag,  twenty  by  thirty  feet,  sent  by  Professor 
Lowe,  was  presented  to  the  town,  and  raised  upon 
the  newly  erected  flagpole,  the  enthusiasm  was 
immense  among  the  many  thousands  who  were  as- 
sembled. Thus  New  Hampshire  royally  honored 
its  distinguished  native  son.  Though  a  native  of 
New  Hampshire,  Professor  Lowe  is  essentially  a 
Calif ornian  in  spirit.  For  over  twenty  years  he  has 
made  it  his  own  State.  His  noble  and  cultured 
wife,  who,  as  a  scientist,  is  almost  as  well-known 
as  her  husband,  has  borne  him  thirteen  sons  and 


436  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

daughters,  nine  of  whom  are  still  living.  He  is 
many  times  a  grandparent  and  his  sons  are  markedly 
men  of  affairs. 

Favored  with  opportunities  to  know  Professor  Lowe 
and  his  work  in  most  intimate  fashion,  I  regard  him  as 
one  of  the  world's  great  heroes.  His  chief  character- 
istic has  been  and  is  a  desire  to  benefit  and  bless  the 
common  man.  He  is  now  working  upon  plans  for  an 
airship  outlined  while  he  soared  in  the  upper  air 
during  his  balloon  experiences  in  war  times.  Were 
he  thirty  or  even  twenty  years  younger,  one  might 
well  prophecy  that  in  six  months  he  would  be  roam- 
ing from  one  capital  of  the  world  to  another,  travel- 
ing at  will  in  the  upper  heavens,  carrying  not  one  or 
two  solitary  passengers,  but  taking  twenty,  thirty  or 
more,  in  as  great  comfort  as  is  now  enjoyed  by  pas- 
sengers on  the  most  palatially-appointed  trains,  and 
with  less  risk  of  accident. 

A  hero  of  war,  he  has  been  no  less  a  hero  of  peace,  and 
in  the  years  to  come  his  fame  will  increase  as  the  world 
becomes  better  acquainted  with  his  beneficent  achieve- 
ments. 


CHAPTER    XXXVIII 

THE       RECLAMATION      HEROES       OF       THE       COLORADO 
DESERT,  —  WOZENCRAFT,    ROCKWOOD   AND  CHAFFEY 

'  I  VHERE  have  been  few  changes  in  California  — 
•*•  that  land  of  remarkadleand  wonderful  changes  — 
so  remarkable  and  wonderful  as  that  which,  in  less  than 
a  single  decade,  has  changed  a  portion  of  the  arid, 
desolate,  awe-inspiring  solitudes  and  wastes  of  the 
Colorado  Desert  into  a  great  empire,  forming  a  new 
county,  proudly  bearing  the  suggestive  name  —  Im- 
perial. In  other  chapters  the  marvels  of  irrigation  have 
been  presented,  but  there  is  nothing  in  the  whole 
history  of  the  subject  that  deals  with  such  dramatic 
changes  as  those  that  concern  the  Colorado  Desert 
and  Imperial  County. 

A  few  hundred  years  ago  this  desert  was  an  arm 
of  the  Gulf  of  California.  Let  the  reader  glance  at  a 
good  map  of  California  and  endeavor  to  see  the  salt 
waters  of  this  gulf  extending  northward  to  the  San 
Bernardino  range  of  mountains  and  covering  all  the 
country  now  occupied  by  Yuma,  Imperial,  etc.,  up  to 
Indio  and  Palm  Springs.  The  beaches  of  the  gulf 
shore  line  are  still  in  evidence,  and  may  be  followed  for 
hundreds  of  miles. 

The  Colorado  River  was  the  instrument  that  changed 
this  arm  of  the  sea  into  a  desert.  Every  year  it  brought 


438  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

down  millions  of  tons  of  sand,  silt  and  rock-debris  in  its 
swirling  and  swiftly  flowing  waters  and  ejected  them 
from  its  mouth  to  settle  and  sink  and  slowly  fill  up 
the  contiguous  sea-bottom.  In  one  year  recently,  scien- 
tific calculations  were  made,  and  it  was  found  that, 
in  that  short  time,  about  one  hundred  and  twenty  mil- 
lions of  tons  of  sand  and  silt  were  thus  carried  in  solu- 
tion and  suspension  by  the  Colorado  River ;  and  this  did 
not  take  into  account  the  small  rocks  and  pebbles  that 
were  rolled  along  on  its  bottom.  With  this  suggestive 
fact  as  a  basis  of  calculation,  the  mind  soon  staggers 
under  the  burden  of  figuring  what  ten,  twenty,  fifty 
centuries  have  accomplished.  Millions  of  millions  of 
tons  removed  bodily  by  the  storms,  cataclysms,  world- 
making  throes  from  the  plateaus  of  Wyoming,  Utah, 
Colorado,  New  Mexico,  Arizona  to  be  redeposited  in 
the  bed  of  the  gulf,  and  thus  build  up  new  land  for 
the  occupancy  of  man  in  ages  yet  to  come. 

This  is  the  process,  and  it  is  even  now  being  carried 
on.     The  mouth  of  the  Colorado  each  year  is  slowly 
being  forced  further  south,  the  body  —  the  banks  — 
of  the  river  being  elongated  to  correspond  to  the  south- 
ward movement  of  the  mouth. 

In  leaving  the  country  high  and  dry,  however,  certain 
singular  conditions  were  brought  about.  For  instance, 
a  little  below  where  Yuma  is  now  located,  the  river  made 
a  sudden  bend  to  the  west.  The  result  was  it  ejected  its 
sand  and  silt  transversely  across  the  gulf  to  the  great 
mountain  range,  which  rose  abruptly  from  the  waters 
and  formed  the  backbone  of  the  peninsula  of  Lower 
California.  In  course  of  time,  this  portion  of  the  gulf 


THE   RECLAMATION   HEROES       439 

was  so  filled  up  that  at  low  water  one  could  walk  across 
the  ridge  formed  by  the  deposits  from  Yuma  to  the 
mountains.  This  detached  the  portion  of  the  gulf  above 
this  ridge  from  the  main  body,  and  thus  made  an 
inland  salt  lake,  that  reached  up  to  the  foot  of  the  San 
Bernardino  range  to  the  north.  Little  by  little,  this 
lake  filled  up  and  evaporated,  until,  in  the  course  of 
many  years,  it  became  dry  land,  only  a  small  part  of  it 
remaining  below  sea-level. 

Thus  it  was  when  the  eyes  of  the  white  man  first 
saw  it.  When  Melchior  Diaz  and  Juan  de  Onate  — 
old  Spanish  explorers  —  gazed  upon  it,  they  doubtless 
expressed  the  feeling  of  countless  later  thousands  when 
they  declared  it  "  God- forsaken."  So,  too,  undoubtedly 
felt  Captain  Juan  Bautista  de  Anza,  who  conquered  its 
tracklessness  and  took  the  colonists  for  the  soon-to-be- 
founded  San  Francisco  over  its  sun-scorched  horrors. 
But  fifty  years  ago  a  man  of  vision  saw  it.  His  eyes 
closed,  and  he  looked  fifty  years  —  a  hundred  — 
ahead,  and  dreamed  the  dreams  that  such  men  often 
dream,  while  the  prosaic  and  wide-awake  world  looks 
on  and  calls  them  "  impractical  fools."  Then  this 
dreamer  began  to  set  in  motion  the  wheels  that  he 
hoped  might  help  to  make  his  dream  come  into  the  realm 
of  the  practical.  He  appealed  to  the  State  legislature 
and  received  a  grant  of  all  the  State's  interest  in  the 
lands  named.  The  State  legislature  also  instructed 
California  representatives  and  senators  in  Congress  to 
support  a  bill  granting  sixteen  hundred  square  miles 
to  him  and  his  associates  in  consideration  of  their 
reclaiming  the  same  by  means  of  water  diverted  from 


440  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

the  Colorado  River.  The  House  Committee  on  Public 
Lands,  in  reporting  favorably  on  this  bill,  said  in  part: 

"  This  tract  embraces  (according  to  Lieutenant 
Brigland)  about  sixteen  hundred  square  miles  in  the 
basin  of  what  is  now  and  must  remain,  until  an  ener- 
getic and  expensive  system  of  reclamation  is  inaugu- 
rated, and  brought  to  successful  completion,  a  valueless 
and  horrible  desert.  .  .  . 

"  From  the  report  of  the  several  reconnoitering  parties 
sent  out  by  the  government,  from  United  States  sur- 
veyors who  have  made  extended  government  surveys 
over  it,  and  from  the  reports  of  army  officers,  who  have 
frequently  traversed  it,  comes  the  concurrent  and  uni- 
versal testimony  of  its  utter  aridity  and  barrenness." 

This  dreamer  was  Dr.  O.  M.  Wozencraft,  of  San 
Bernardino,  California,  and  his  plan  was  to  take  the 
stream  that  had  made  the  desert  and  compel  it  to 
nourish  and  sustain  the  desert  by  irrigation,  until  it 
would  fulfil  the  Biblical  prophecy  and  blossom  as  the 
rose.  This  gentleman  was  a  practising  physician  of 
culture  and  refinement,  for  a  while  the  Indian  agent 
of  Southern  California,  who  died  in  the  nineties  hon- 
ored and  respected.  His  great  desert  plan,  however, 
while  gaining  the  sanction  of  Congress,  was  swept  aside 
by  the  turmoil  of  the  Civil  War,  and  it  was  left  for 
others  to  carry  it  to  ultimate  success. 

In  1892,  John  C.  Beatty,  a  company  promoter,  and 
described  as  "  of  the  Colonel  Sellers  type  of  man,"  took 
up  the  project  and  formed  the  Colorado  River  Irriga- 
tion Company,  securing  the  services  of  Mr.  C.  R. 
Rockwood  as  engineer  to  make  surveys  and  report 


THE   RECLAMATION   HEROES       441 

on  the  feasibility  of  the  undertaking.  Rockwood  made 
surveys  in  1892  -1893  from  a  proposed  heading  on  the 
Colorado  River  known  as  Pot  Holes,  situated  about 
twelve  miles  north  of  Yuma,  and  a  mile  below  the  spot 
where  the  United  States  Reclamation  Service  has  since 
built  the  great  Laguna  Dam.  Beatty  interested  a  large 
number  of  people,  from  a  member  of  the  Cabinet 
to  hotel  bell  boys,  in  purchasing  the  stock  of  his  com- 
pany, but  no  actual  construction  work  of  any  kind 
was  done. 

For  three  years  Beatty  struggled,  then  practically 
abandoned  the  project.  But  Rockwood  had  now 
become  interested,  and  he  determined  to  try  to  carry  it 
through  to  success.  He  organized  a  company,  with 
the  aid  of  others,  and  continued  to  endeavor  to  interest 
capital  to  carry  it  through  to  completion. 

But  to  most  men  it  seemed  too  chimerical,  too  prob- 
lematic, too  risky,  to  venture  large  sums  of  money 
upon.  "  Capital  "  is  always  conservative,  unless  it 
is  practically  assured  of  large  and  certain  return. 
And  gigantic  schemes  of  this  nature  never  would  be 
carried  out,  unless  there  were  a  few  men  in  the  world 
who  have,  in  addition  to  the  poet's  vision,  sufficient 
capital  to  enable  them  to  carry  out  their  plans. 

Such  a  man  was  now  found  to  actualize  what  others 
had  dreamed  about,  in  the  person  of  George  Chaffey, 
a  Canadian,  born  in  the  year  of  the  California  gold  ex- 
citement (1848),  whose  experiences  especially  fitted 
him  for  just  such  a  work.  Mr.  Chaffey  was  a  practical 
engineer  —  one  who  had  actually  done  things,  who  had 
come  to  Southern  California  in  1880,  and  the  following 


442  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

year  had  purchased  one  of  the  old  Spanish  ranches 
a  few  miles  from  San  Bernardino.  With  his  brother, 
W.  B.  Chaffey,  he  constructed  a  water  system,  which 
brought  the  water  from  the  near-by  mountain  canyon 
and  conveyed  it  to  the  ten-acre  lots  into  which  he  sub- 
divided the  land.  These  watered  lots  were  then  sold 
to  settlers,  and  the  town  of  Etiwanda  started.  This 
was  one  of  the  first  of  the  settlements  of  Southern  Cali- 
fornia that  have  since  changed  the  country  from  a  vast 
cattle  ranch  into  contiguous  groups  of  successful  fruit 
farms. 

Etiwanda  was  such  an  instantaneous  success  that 
the  following  year  the  Chaffey  brothers  purchased  a 
portion  of  the  old  Cucamonga  Rancho;  subdivided  it 
as  before;  named  it  Ontario,  after  their  native  prov- 
ince; and  placed  it  on  the  market. 

In  the  meanwhile  he  had  done  other  useful  public 
services,  \vhich  it  is  not  out  of  place  to  mention  here. 
First,  in  far-reaching  importance,  wras  the  perfecting, 
in  association  with  Mr.  L.  M.  Holt  of  Riverside,  of  the 
mutual-company  system  of  water  distribution,  which 
has  since  formed  the  basis  of  all  methods.  Hitherto 
each  land-owner  claimed  a  certain  amount  of  water 
from  a  certain  stream  or  supply.  If  a  ditch  had  to  be 
constructed,  all  he  cared  about  was  to  see  that  the 
water,  in  sufficient  quantity,  reached  his  land.  In 
early  days,  when  there  were  few  claimants  for  water, 
this  plan  was  fairly  successful,  but  when  a  hundred 
claimants  were  clamoring  for  water,  and  found  its  use 
imperative  to  make  their  lands  cultivable  and  preserve 
their  newly  planted  orange  and  lemon  trees  alive,  some 


THE   RECLAMATION   HEROES       443 

more  generally  efficient  system  was  found  necessary. 
For  it  can  readily  be  seen  that  if  there  were,  say,  forty 
claimants  to  the  water,  those  that  were  near  to  the 
source,  or  to  the  distributing  ditch,  would  have  a  great 
advantage  over  the  others  who  were  further  away. 
If  the  first  class  received  all  the  water  their  lands  needed, 
they  would  not  be  apt  to  care  very  much  about  those 
of  the  second  class.  Hence,  if  the  ditch  banks  broke,  or 
the  service  was  in  any  way  impeded,  it  became  a  case 
of  each  man  caring  for  himself  and  the  "  de'il  caring 
for  the  hindermost." 

By  the  mutual  method  devised  and  put  into  practical 
operation  by  Messrs.  Chaffey  and  Holt  at  Etiwanda 
and  Ontario,  the  company  as  a  whole  became  respon- 
sible for  the  distribution  of  water  to  the  lands  of  the 
most  remote  and  inaccessible  as  well  as  to  those  near  by. 

In  that  same  year  of  1882,  Mr.  Chaffey  started  the 
first  electric  light  plant  run  by  water  power  in  Southern 
California,  and  also  installed  an  electric  light  system 
in  Los  Angeles,  making  that  city  the  first  municipality 
in  the  United  States  exclusively  lighted  by  electricity. 
Some  of  the  high  masts  then  erected  by  Mr.  Chaffey 
are  still  standing  in  Los  Angeles,  shedding  their  light 
over  the  new  conditions  as  they  did  thirty  years  ago 
over  the  old. 

These  things  are  referred  to  as  showing  the  active 
and  practical  bent  of  Mr.  Chaffey's  mind  and  his 
ability  to  seize  upon  the  unapplied  forces  of  nature  and 
utilize  them  for  man's  benefit. 

Ontario  grew  rapidly.  Euclid  Avenue  —  a  magnifi- 
cent road  that  stretched  across  the  entire  valley  — 


444  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

was  planted  out,  a  college  endowed  and  started,  and 
another  innovation,  the  first  tunnel  for  water,  was  con- 
structed under  the  bed  of  San  Antonio  Canyon  to  tap 
the  underground  flow  of  water  which  was  found  to  exist. 
This  was  another  idea  that  has  revolutionized  the  con- 
servation of  water  in  Southern  California,  such  towns 
as  Pasadena  securing  the  major  portion  of  their  water- 
supply  by  this  tunneling  method.  Ontario  was  soon 
covered  with  a  system  of  cement  and  iron  pipes  for  the 
delivery  of  water,  so  that  irrigation  could  be  system- 
atized and  thorough,  and  thus  render  fruit  culture 
independent  of  rainfall. 

Such  thorough  and  practical  work  soon  made  On- 
tario known  as  the  "  model  colony."  Its  success  was 
heralded  far  and  wide.  It  barred  out  saloons  and  fos- 
tered only  the  progressive  and  helpful,  and  when,  in 
1904,  the  United  States  government  wished  to  exhibit 
to  the  world  what  it  regarded  as  a  model  colony,  On- 
tario was  the  one  selected.  Hundreds  of  thousands  of 
people  saw  that  model  exhibit,  and  saw  the  concrete 
results  of  Mr.  Chaffey's  foresight,  skill  and  practical 
endeavor. 

But  he  was  not  yet  prepared  to  undertake  the  great 
task  Dr.  Wozencraft  had  in  mind.  Though  the  "  vi- 
sionary "  urged  him  to  take  it  in  hand,  it,  as  yet,  seemed 
utterly  impracticable.  So,  as  if  in  unconscious  working 
out  to  an  unseen  and  divine  plan,  in  1885,  a  royal  com- 
mission appointed  by  the  government  of  Victoria, 
Australia,  visited  California  for  the  purpose  of  studying 
and  reporting  on  irrigation  methods.  In  due  time  they 
reached  Etiwanda  and  Ontario,  and  came  in  touch 


THE   RECLAMATION   HEROES       445 

with  Mr.  Chaff ey.  They  were  so  impressed  with  what 
they  saw,  and  the  man  who  had  been  chiefly  instru- 
mental in  achieving  it,  that  they  immediately  made 
arrangements  with  him  and  his  brother  to  under- 
take certain  reclamation  projects  by  irrigation  in 
Australia.  The  history  of  the  colonies  of  Mildura 
in  Victoria,  and  Renmark  in  South  Australia,  read  like 
a  fairy  tale,  which  I  should  much  like  to  recount  in 
these  pages,  but  which  can  only  briefly  be  touched 
upon  because  they  gave  to  Mr.  Chaffey  the  personal 
experience  of  the  perfect  practicability  of  reclaiming 
desert  land  in  the  hottest  kind  of  a  climate,  which  led 
him  ultimately  to  revise  his  earlier  adverse  decision 
about  the  reclamation  of  the  lands  of  the  Colorado 
Desert. 

Riches  and  honor  in  full  measure  were  assured  to 
him  in  this  land  of  his  latest  endeavor,  had  he  cared 
to  remain,  but  the  allurements  of  his  beloved  California 
were  too  great  to  be  long  resisted,  and  as  soon  as  he 
saw  the  early  fruition  of  his  labors  in  Australia  and 
found  his  brother  willing  to  superintend  them,  he 
returned  to  the  Golden  State. 

Now  he  was  ready  for  the  greatest  achievement  of 
all.  Mr.  Rockwood  and  his  associates  were  almost  in 
despair.  Financiers  fought  shy  of  their  plan  because 
of  the  great  initial  expense,  and  the  altogether  unprom- 
ising appearance  of  the  land  to  be  reclaimed.  All  the 
surveys  and  estimates  hitherto  made  had  placed  the 
first  cost  of  the  canals  at  not  less  than  one  million 
dollars,  and  it  seemed  a  hopeless  task  to  raise  so  large 
a  sum.  At  last  Mr.  Chaffey  was  appealed  to  by  Messrs. 


446  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

Rockwood  and  Ferguson,  as  twenty  years  before  he 
had  been  called  upon  by  Dr.  Wozencraft.  But  now 
his  eyes  were  opened.  He  made  a  thorough  examina- 
tion of  the  water  supply  and  the  soil  of  the  desert, 
taking  into  consideration  all  the  physical  and  climatic 
conditions.  He  now  saw  the  merit  of  the  proposition, 
and  his  mind  leaped  to  the  gigantic  nature  of  the  task. 
He  threw  himself,  soul  and  body,  into  its  accomplish- 
ment. At  the  outset  he  determined  to  abandon  all  the 
surveys  that  had  hitherto  been  made  and  follow  a 
new  line  which  he  saw  was  feasible.  Given  a  free  hand, 
with  characteristic  push  and  energy,  guided  by  his 
large  experience,  he  went  to  work.  Morning,  noon 
and  night  he  was  personally  in  the  field,  directing 
operations  and  seeing  that  they  were  carried  out 
as  he  desired.  Thus  the  heading  was  built  and 
the  main  canal  constructed.  Yonder  in  the  desert 
Mr.  Rockwood  was  surveying  laterals,  distributing 
canals,  and  getting  them  dug  ready  for  the  water  that 
Mr.  Chaffey  promised  in  a  few  months.  In  May,  1901, 
water  was  on  the  desert.  Settlers  began  to  pour  in. 
The  land  was  government  land,  free,  or  nearly  so,  for 
the  taking,  by  those  who  were  willing  actually  to  live 
upon  it.  The  water  only  was  charged  for,  and  a  number 
of  mutual- water  companies  were  organized,  each  to 
control  its  own  district,  and  each  to  have  a  certain 
amount  of  responsibility  and  control  of  the  parent 
company  which  supplied  water  to  them  all.  But  all 
did  not  go  with  proverbial  smoothness.  And,  while  it 
is  not  my  purpose  to  enter  into  any  dispute  or  argument, 
it  does  seem  to  me  necessary  to  a  clear  understanding 


A    CAMP    OF    DITCH-MAKERS    IN    IMPERIAL    VALLEY,    IQOI. 

Page  450 


EGYPTIAN    CORN,    IMPERIAL    VALLEY,    IN    1907. 


Page  451 


THE   RECLAMATION   HEROES       447 

of  Chaffey's  heroic  character  that  I  state  a  few  of  the 
extra  difficulties  he  had  to  overcome  in  addition  to  those 
necessarily  incident  to  his  great  undertaking. 

When  Mr.  Chaffey  contracted  to  construct  the  head- 
ing and  canals,  and  supply  water  to  the  Imperial 
Valley  (Colorado  Desert)  lands,  he  was  made  president 
of  the  California  Development  Company,  and  given  full 
control,  both  of  the  company's  finances  and  its  engi- 
neering. But  the  books  of  the  company  were  in  New 
York,  and  he  was  not  fully  aware  of  the  actual  condi- 
tion of  affairs  as  was  later  revealed. 

At  this  time  he  was  under  the  impression  —  which 
his  contract  clearly  justifies  —  that  the  company  owned 
one  hundred  thousand  acres  of  land  in  Mexico,  through 
which  the  water  alone  could  be  conveyed  to  the  dis- 
tributing canals  in  the  Imperial  Valley,  and  also  owned 
an  option  for  the  purchase  of  the  necessary  land  at  the 
site  chosen  for  the  heading  on  the  Colorado  River,  where 
it  was  now  determined  to  divert  the  water.  The  con- 
trol or  ownership  of  these  two  pieces  of  property  was  the 
key  to  the  situation,  and  supposing  that  the  company 
controlled  them,  Chaffey  began  work  and  called  for 
settlers  to  come  and  take  the  land  he  would  soon  make 
valuable.  Realizing  what  he  had  done  at  Etiwanda, 
Ontario,  Mildura  and  Renmark,  many  people  came 
and  took  up  land,  actually  preparing  to  settle  upon  it 
and  cultivate  it  as  soon  as  the  water  commenced  to 
flow.  Then,  to  his  chagrin,  Chaffey  found  that  his 
company  did  not  own  the  Mexican  land,  that  the  option 
had  expired  on  the  land  needful  for  the  Colorado  River 
heading,  and  also  that  the  Attorney  General  of  New 


448  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

Jersey  had  commenced  suit  against  the  company 
for  the  annulment  of  its  charter  on  the  ground  that  it 
had  not  paid  its  annual  tax.  That,  in  fact,  the  Cali- 
fornia Development  Company  was  in  a  moribund 
condition,  on  the  verge  of  legal  dissolution,  and  that  all 
connected  were  on  the  point  of  abandoning  it  to  its  fate. 

A  weaker  man  would  have  thrown  up  his  contract 
and  washed  his  hands  of  the  whole  affair.  But  not  so 
Chaffey.  On  the  strength  of  his  representations  and 
because  of  his  reputation  for  honorable  dealing  and 
accomplishment  of  his  undertakings,  innocent  men 
and  women  had  invested  their  little  all  and  made  the 
great  move  of  their  lives  upon  the  Imperial  lands. 
He  practically  began  at  the  beginning  again  —  secured 
the  Mexican  lands  and  the  land  for  the  head -gates 
on  the  Colorado  River  by  actual  purchase,  and  freed 
the  charter  from  jeopardy  by  payment  of  the  unpaid 
taxes,  thus  putting  the  company  upon  a  sound  finan- 
cial basis.  He  also  accepted  a  burden  of  liabilities 
to  the  amount  of  four  hundred  thousand  dollars, 
principally  in  the  form  of  script,  interchangeable  for 
water  rights  at  its  face  value,  which  had  been  dis- 
posed of  by  the  earlier  promoters  of  the  company  at 
a  ridiculously  small  percentage,  every  cent  of  which 
had  been  swallowed  up  in  promotion  expenses.  Not 
a  spadeful  of  earth  had  been  turned,  or  any  other 
work  done,  save  the  making  of  the  surveys  some 
of  which  he  had  been  compelled  to  abandon  on  ac- 
count of  the  prohibitive  expense  of  carrying  them  out. 

These  were  some  of  the  difficulties  that  Mr.  Chaffey 
overcame.  The  water  was  given  to  the  Imperial  Valley 


THE   RECLAMATION   HEROES      449 

and  its  reign  begun.  With  his  later  relationship  to  the 
project  it  is  not  necessary  here  to  speak. 

But  a  few  words  must  be  said  descriptive  of  the 
County  of  Imperial,  which  is  made  up  entirely  of  this 
land,  that  less  than  ten  years  ago  was  virgin  desert. 

The  new  county  was  formed  in  1906.  It  is  practi- 
cally the  whole  western  end  of  what  was  San  Diego 
County,  and  embraces  an  area  of  four  thousand  square 
miles.  As  already  shown  it  is  a  part  of  the  great  basin 
into  which  the  sand  and  silt  of  the  Colorado  River  was 
emptied  for  centuries,  hence  is  composed  of  a  soil  whose 
richness,  fertility  and  depth  no  man  can  estimate.  And 
as  if  to  provide  for  all  future  ages  the  Colorado  River 
—  the  Nile  of  America  —  continues  to  bring  down  in  its 
waters  rich  fertilizers,  which  the  government  experts 
claim  have  a  market  value  of  about  $3.50  per  acre 
foot.  As  the  actual  cost  of  the  water  to  ranchers,  for 
irrigation  purposes,  is  about  fifty  cents  an  acre,  the 
value  of  the  river  to  the  settler  can  well  be  understood. 

It  may  be  stated  without  fear  of  contradiction,  that 
the  Imperial  Valley  is  one  of  the  fertile  spots  of  the 
world.  There  is  scarcely  anything  that  can  be  grown 
anywhere  that  does  not  thrive  and  do  well  here.  Even 
bananas  and  dates  —  those  fruits  that  require  great 
heat  to  ripen  them,  and  plenty  of  water  to  soak  their 
tree  roots  —  do  remarkably  well,  and  such  crops  as 
sweet  potatoes,  Bermuda  onions,  Smyrna  figs  and  canta- 
loupes are  already  bringing  large  returns.  Kaffir, 
Indian  and  Egyptian  corn,  sorghum,  and  alfalfa  are 
raised,  not  by  the  hundreds  of  acres,  but  by  the  hun- 
dreds of  thousands  of  acres,  as  feed  for  stock.  Alfalfa 


450  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

regularly  gives  from  six  to  nine  crops  annually,  and 
yields  from  a  ton  to  a  ton  and  a  half  at  a  cutting. 
Grapes,  oranges,  and  all  citrus  fruits,  as  well  as  apri- 
cots, peaches,  and  other  deciduous  fruits,  thrive  as  well 
as  in  any  part  of  California,  and  scores  of  car  loads, 
both  green  and  dried,  are  shipped  from  the  valley  every 
season.  Last  year,  1909,  a  successful  experimental 
farmer  had  one  thousand  acres  of  cotton  come  to 
maturity,  and  after  thorough  testing  it  is  found  to  be  of 
the  finest  quality  the  United  States  has  yet  produced. 
Among  some  of  the  finest  samples  is  one  grown  from 
Egyptian  seed,  which  repeated  experiments  have  dem- 
onstrated will  not  grow  in  the  South.  Here  it  has  de- 
veloped even  better  than  in  its  original  habitat,  and 
large  quantities  are  already  planted  for  next  season. 

The  close  proximity  of  the  Imperial  Valley  to  San 
Diego  and  Los  Angeles  renders  transportation  and 
sale  of  all  its  commodities  comparatively  easy,  and, 
as  there  are  satisfactory  indications  that  the  oil  field  — 
which  has  revolutionized  the  fuel  and  manufacturing 
problems  of  Southern  California  —  extends  into  the 
Colorado  Desert  and  practically  surrounds  Imperial 
County,  it  is  a  reasonably  safe  prophecy  that  ere  long 
mills  will  be  established  in  the  very  heart  of  the  new 
cotton  belt  and  thus  use  up  the  product  on  the  spot. 

The  growth  of  this  remarkable  young  county  —  al- 
ready full-fledged,  powerful,  thriving  and  with  a  recog- 
nized influence  —  is  no  less  a  testimony  to  the  heroic 
work  of  George  Chaffey  than  to  the  foresight  of  Dr. 
Wozencraft  and  the  persistent  promotion  of  C.  R. 
Rockwood. 


CHAPTER  XXXIX 

THE    POET    HERO    FOR  HUMANITY,    EDWIN 
MARKHAM 

/T~"VHE  world  has  ever  honored  the  bravery  of  the 
•*•  warrior.  Its  plaudits  and  favors  have  been  show- 
ered upon  those  it  has  been  pleased  to  call  its  "  heroes." 
Indeed  so  wedded  has  heroism  become  with  militarism 
in  the  minds  of  the  masses  that  if  one  speaks  of  a  hero 
he  is  almost  immediately  asked:  What  battle  did  he 
fight  ?  What  victory  did  he  win  ? 

Yet,  while  physical  courage  should  be  commended, 
it  is  only  the  lowest  order  of  which  man  —  the  living 
soul  —  is  capable,  —  there  is  mental  courage,  and, 
higher  still,  spiritual  courage.  It  is  of  this  latter  quality 
that  Edwin  Markham  in  writing  and  publishing  his 
poem,  The  Man  with  the  Hoe,  gives  us  a  noteworthy 
example.  At  the  time  this  poem  was  published,  Mark- 
ham  was  the  principal  of  a  grammar  school  in  Oakland. 
He  had  worked  his  own  way  up  from  the  plow  and  the 
forge  to  an  honored  position  in  one  of  California's 
largest  cities.  Naturally  he  was  ambitious,  and  his 
poetic  gifts  were  slowly  coming  to  be  recognized.  Being 
a  man  of  discernment,  he  knew  full  well  that  those  who 
have  favors,  wealth  and  patronage  to  distribute  do  not 
like  to  be  criticized,  and  they  resent  any  attack  made 
upon  the  manner  in  which  they  have  gained  their 


452 

wealth,  or  the  system  under  which  they  live  that  has 
made  its  accumulation  possible.  Hence  he  was  aware 
that  if,  in  any  way,  he  attacked,  or  even  seemed  to 
attack,  the  wealthy  and  their  methods  of  gaining 
wealth,  he  would  become  a  strong  candidate  for  their 
disfavor  and  a  direct  object  for  their  disapproval  and 
rejection.  If,  in  addition  to  attacking  the  present 
selfish  method  of  accumulating  great  fortunes,  he  took 
up  the  cause,  and  allied  himself  with  those  who  were 
trodden  under  foot  by  the  inordinately  rich,  he  would 
add  insult  to  offense  and  put  himself  decidedly  beyond 
the  pale  of  those  who  could  confer  large  and  desirable 
favors. 

To  do  this  required  a  pure  soul,  a  clear  vision  and 
manly  courage,  and  these  qualities  I  claim  for  Edwin 
Markham  in  the  writing  and  publishing  of 

"THE  MAN  WITH  THE  HOE"1 

"  God  made  man  in  His  own  image, 

in  the  image  of  God  made  He  him."  —  Genesis. 

Bowed  by  the  weight  of  centuries  he  leans 
Upon  his  hoe  and  gazes  on  the  ground, 
The  emptiness  of  ages  in  his  face, 
And  on  his  back  the  burden  of  the  world. 
Who  made  him  dead  to  rapture  and  despair, 
A  thing  that  grieves  not  and  that  never  hopes, 
Stolid  and  stunned,  a  brother  to  the  ox? 
Who  loosened  and  let  down  this  brutal  jaw? 
Whose  was  the  hand  that  slanted  back  this  brow? 
Whose  breath  blew  out  the  light  within  this  brain? 

Is  this  the  Thing  the  Lord  God  made  and  gave 
To  have  dominion  over  sea  and  land; 

1  Reprinted  by  kind  permission  of  Mr.  Markham  and  his  pub- 
lishers, McClure  and  Co.,  New  York. 


Reproduced   by  permission.  Copyright,  1906,   by   A.    E.   Bradley. 

EDWIN   MARKHAM. 

Page  453 


A         PLAYA 


OR  BED  OF  A  DRY  LAKE  IN  THE  COLORADO  DESERT. 

Page  452 


A    BEET   FIELD    IN    IMPERIAL    VALLEY,    1907. 


Page  452 


EDWIN  MARKHAM  453 

To  trace  the  stars  and  search  the  heavens  for  power; 

To  feel  the  passion  of  Eternity? 

Is  this  the  Dream  He  dreamed  who  shaped  the  suns 

And  marked  their  ways  upon  the  ancient  deep? 

Down  all  the  stretch  of  Hell  to  its  last  gulf 

There  is  no  shape  more  terrible  than  ithis  — 

More  tongued  with  censure  of  the  world's  blind  greed  — 

More  rilled  with  signs  and  portents  for  the  soul  — 

More  fraught  with  menace  to  the  universe. 

What  gulfs  between  him  and  the  seraphim! 
Slave  of  the  wheel  of  labor,  what  to  him 
Are  Plato  and  the  swing  of  Pleiades  ? 
What  the  long  reaches  of  the  peaks  of  song, 
The  rift  of  dawn,  the  reddening  of  the  rose? 
Through  this  dread  shape  the  suffering  ages  look; 
Time's  tragedy  is  in  that  aching  stoop ; 
Through  this  dread  shape  humanity  betrayed, 
Plundered,  profaned  and  disinherited, 
Cries  protest  to  the  Judges  of  the  World, 
A  protest  that  is  also  prophecy. 

O  masters,  lords  and  rulers  in  all  lands, 

Is  this  ithe  handiwork  you  give  to  God, 

This  monstrous  thing  distorted  and  soul-quenched? 

How  will  you  ever  straighten  up  this  shape ; 

Touch  it  again  with  immortality; 

Give  back  the  upward  looking  and  the  light; 

Rebuild  in  it  the  music  and  the  dream; 

Make  right  the  immemorial  infamies, 

Perfidious  wrongs,  immedicable  woes? 

O  masters    lords  and  rulers  in  all  lands, 
How  will  the  Future  reckon  with  this  Man? 
How  answer  his  brute  question  in  that  hour 
When  whirlwinds  of  rebellion  shake  the  world? 
How  will  it  be  with  kingdoms  and  with  kings  — 
With  those  who  shaped  him  to  the  thing  he  is  — 
When  this  dumb  Terror  shall  reply  to  God 
After  the  silence  of  the  centuries? 


454  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

Immediately  on  its  publication  the  fierce  fires  of 
controversy  and  condemnation  began  to  rage.  Mark- 
ham  was  bitterly  assailed  and  the  assertion  made  that 
his  poem  was  an  insult  to  labor.  He  finally  made  reply, 
and  from  this  reply  I  cull  the  following. 

After  showing  that  his  poem  does  not  refer  to  all. 
farm-toilers  and  laborers,  those  who  are  well-paid, 
happy  and  contented,  those  who  know  the  poetry  of  the 
farm,  he  tells  of  his  own  boyhood  experiences  and  then 
continues : 

"  These  things  are  deep  and  sweet  in  memory,  but 
I  know  also  the  prose  of  the  farm.  I  know  the  hard, 
endless  work  in  the  hot  sun,  the  chilling  rain;  I  know 
the  fight  against  the  Death-clutch  reaching  to  take  the 
home  when  crops  have  failed  or  prices  fallen.  I  know 
the  loneliness  of  the  stretching  plain,  with  the  whirl  of 
the  dust  underfoot  and  the  whirl  of  the  hawk  overhead. 
I  know  the  dull  sense  of  hopelessness  that  beats  upon 
the  heart  in  that  monotonous  drudgery  that  leads  no- 
where, that  has  no  light  ahead. 

"  Fourteen  years  ago  "(this  was  written  in  1900),  "  I 
came  upon  a  small  print  of  Millet's  picture  of  The 
Hoeman;  and  it  at  once  struck  my  heart  and  my  im- 
agination. It  was  then  that  I  jotted  down  the  rough 
1  field  notes  '  of  my  poem.  For  years  I  kept  the  print 
on  my  wall,  and  the  pain  of  it  in  my  heart.  And  then 
(ten  years  ago)  I  chanced  upon  the  original  painting 
itself. 

"  For  an  hour  I  stood  before  the  painting,  absorbing 
the  majesty  of  its  despair,  the  tremendous  import  of 
its  admonition.  I  stood  there,  the  power  and  terror 


EDWIN  MARKHAM  455 

of  the  thing  growing  upon  my  heart,  the  pity  and  the 
sorrow  of  it  eating  into  my  soul.  It  came  to  me  with  a 
dim  echo  of  my  own  life  —  came  with  its  pitiless  pathos 
and  mournful  grandeur. 

"  I  soon  realized  that  Millet  puts  before  us  no  chance 
toiler,  no  mere  man  of  the  fields.  No;  this  stunned 
and  stolid  peasant  is  the  type  of  industrial  oppression 
in  all  lands  and  in  all  labors.  He  might  be  a  man 
with  a  needle  in  a  New  York  sweat-shop,  a  man  with 
a  pick  in  a  West  Virginia  coal-mine,  a  man  with  a  hod 
in  a  London  alley,  a  man  with  a  spade  on  the  banks 
of  the  Zuyder  Zee. 

"  The  Hoeman  is  the  symbol  of  betrayed  humanity, 
the  Toiler  ground  down  through  ages  of  oppression, 
through  ages  of  social  injustice.  He  is  the  man  pushed 
away  from  the  land  by  those  who  fail  to  use  the  land, 
till  at  last  he  has  become  a  serf,  with  no  mind  in  his 
muscle  and  no  heart  in  his  handiwork.  He  is  the 
man  pushed  back  and  shrunken  up  by  the  special 
privileges  conferred  upon  the  Few. 

"  In  the  Hoeman  we  see  the  slow,  sure,  awful  degra- 
dation of  man  through  endless,  hopeless,  and  joyless 
labor.  Did  I  say  labor ?  No  —  drudgery!  This  man's 
battle  with  the  world  has  been  too  brutal.  He  is  not 
going  upward  in  step  with  the  divine  music  of  the 
world.  The  motion  of  his  life  has  been  arrested,  if  not 
actually  reversed.  He  is  a  hulk  of  humanity,  degraded 
below  the  level  of  the  roving  savage,  who  has  a  step 
of  dignity,  a  tongue  of  eloquence.  The  Hoeman  is 
not  a  remnant  of  prehistoric  times;  he  is  not  a  relic  of 
barbarism.  He  is  the  savage  of  civilization. 


456  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

"  The  Hoeman  is  the  effigy  of  man,  a  being  with 
no  outlet  to  his  life,  no  uplift  to  his  soul  —  a  being  with 
no  time  to  rest,  no  time  to  think,  no  time  to  pray,  no 
time  for  the  mighty  hopes  that  make  us  men. 

"  His  battle  has  not  been  confined  to  his  own  life : 
it  extends  backward  in  grim  and  shadowy  outline 
through  his  long  train  of  ancestry.  He  was  seen  of 
old  among  the  brickmakers  of  Egypt,  among  the  mil- 
lions who  lifted  wearily  the  walls  of  Ilium,  who  carved 
the  pillars  of  Karnak  and  paved  the  Appian  Way. 
He  is  seen  to-day  among  the  stooped,  silent  toilers 
who  build  London  and  beautify  her  tombs  and  palaces. 

"  These  were  some  of  the  memories  and  agitations 
that  pressed  upon  my  soul  as  I  stood  in  the  presence 
of  this  dread  thing  —  the  Accuser  of  the  world.  So  I 
was  forced  to  utter  the  awe  and  grief  of  my  spirit  for 
the  ruined  majesty  of  this  son  of  God.  So  the  poem 
took  shape.  It  sprang  from  my  long  purpose  to  speak 
a  word  for  the  Humiliated  and  the  Wronged.  I  have 
borne  my  witness.  It  is  said;  it  is  truth;  let  it  stand." 

There  you  have  the  poet's  own  fearless  declaration. 
There  are  those  who  deny  that  any  of  humanity  has 
ever  been  wronged,  but  Markham  saw  with  clearer 
vision,  and  when  he  saw,  he  at  once  ranked  himself 
with  all  the  power  of  his  genius  on  the  side  of  the  down- 
trodden, the  lowly,  the  despised,  the  friendless.  As 
Joaquin  Miller  eloquently  wrote  of  him:  "  Consider 
what  Markham  put  aside,  as  putting  aside  a  crown, 
to  take  his  place  with  the  poor  and  the  despised. 
Wealth  (enough,  at  least),  books  and  a  great  knowl- 
edge of  books,  high  honors  and  the  esteem  of  great 


EDWIN  MARKHAM  457 

and  good  men;  the  love  of  men  and  the  idolatry  of 
women.  We  scribes  used  to  call  him  '  Jove  '  in  his 
stately  young  prime  when  speaking  of  him,  so  majestic 
was  his  presence.  Yet  he  put  it  all  by  and  became  a 
blacksmith,  a  mighty  sledge  in  his  strong  right  hand 
to  batter  down  the  prison  doors,  and  break  the  chains 
of  blind  men  in  prison  grinding  at  a  mill." 

He  saw  that  some  men  were  being  forced  by  dire 
necessity  to  work  too  hard,  that  other  men  might  have 
ease;  they  were  not  having  any  opportunity  to  think 
of  anything  save  the  grinding  toil  of  the  field,  the 
foundry,  the  mill,  the  shop.  So  he  voiced  his  protest 
against  such  inhumanity  and  unbrotherliness.  And  how 
the  blows  rang;  how  the  iron  struck  fire;  how  the  heat 
burned  and  seared.  The  world  felt  the  blows,  and 
men  and  women  who  had  been  asleep  hi  their  own 
selfish  comfort  and  pampered  luxury  awoke  to  the 
sorrows,  sufferings  and  needless  woes  of  others.  His 
direct  questions  were  sharp-pointed  arrows  that  pene- 
trated the  joints  of  the  selfish  armor  of  men. 

It  matters  not  what  answer  the  lords  and  rulers 
of  the  lands  throughout  all  the  ages  give;  what  ex- 
cuses fall  from  their  ready  tongues;  what  salves  the 
prophets  of  soft  things  apply  to  their  consciences; 
there  is  no  ignoring  the  fact  that  millions  of  human 
beings  to-day  know  none  of  the  joys,  the  delights, 
the  blessings  of  mental  and  spiritual  elevation  and  in- 
spiration. They  have  had  no  chance.  They  have 
been  kept  too  busy  doing  the  hard  work  of  the  world, 
and  some  day  the  query  from  the  very  lips  of  God  will 
startle  the  luxurious  and  selfish  and  greedy  of  this 


458  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

world  with  the  question  asked  in  the  earlier  ages  of 
mankind :  What  hast  thou  done  to  thy  brother  ? 

Since  his  removal  to  the  East  other  injustices  to 
the  helpless,  defenseless  and  championless  have 
aroused  his  indignation  and  led  to  his  entering  the 
arena  on  their  behalf.  There  are  few  things  in 
American  literature  more  calculated  to  stir  the  heart 
than  his  tremendous  appeals  for  the  working  children 
of  our  land.  He  made  a  personal  study  of  child 
labor  in  the  factories,  mills,  work-shops,  etc.,  through- 
out the  country,  and  embodied  the  results,  with  all 
the  power  of  his  genius  and  sympathetic  humanity,  in 
a  series  of  articles  in  the  Cosmopolitan  Magazine. 
With  the  flaming  Sword  of  Right  and  Justice  he  cut 
away  the  glittering  tinsels  of  sophistry  and  attempted 
justification  the  "  rulers  of  this  world "  wrapped 
around  their  cruel  inhumanity,  and  in  clear  and 
trumpet  tones  called  upon  all  true  men,  who  believed 
in  the  Fatherhood  of  God  and  the  Brotherhood  of 
Man,  to  come  to  the  rescue  of  these  helpless  and  out- 
raged little  ones. 

Only  a  man  of  spiritual  power  and  intense  reliance 
upon  the  God  of  justice  would  have  dared  so  openly 
and  so  boldly  to  demand  justice  and  love  for  his  needy 
and  helpless  brother. 


CHAPTER    XL 

THE  HONEST    HERO    OF  THE    FREE    HARBOR,  STEPHEN 
M.  WHITE 

YOU  will  meet  with  the  idea  prevalent  in  the 
world  that  a  man  has  a  right  to  be  selfish,  to 
look  at  every  proposition  and  ask :  "  What  is  there  in 
it  for  me  ?  "  and  that  the  acquisition  of  money  is  the 
desirable  thing.  This  is  certainly  a  mistake.  The  men 
who  are  regarded  as  moral  heroes,  even  by  selfish  and 
wicked  men,  are  those  who  are  unselfish  and  who  ad- 
here to  high  and  noble  principle.  Money  is  not  the 
test  of  success.  Neither  is  fame.  Yet  when  fame  and 
the  honor  and  respect  of  the  world  come  as  the  re- 
sult of  fidelity  to  principle  when  seeming  self-interest 
beckoned  into  other  paths,  fame  and  honor  and  respect 
alike  are  to  be  estimated  as  high  rewards  and  valued 
accordingly. 

These  remarks  find  their  illustration  in  the  career 
of  Stephen  M.  White,  United  States  Senator  from 
California  during  the  years  1893  to  1899.  I  would 
that  every  young  man  and  woman  in  the  State  might 
read  and  know  his  history  and  some  of  his  most  power- 
ful speeches.  Not  only  would  they  be  fired  thereby 
to  a  higher  zeal,  a  truer  patriotism,  a  nobler  principle, 
but  they  would  also  acquire  a  knowledge  of  the  battles 
that  a  community  often  has  to  fight  to  gain  its  expressed 
will,  when  opposed  by  persons  or  organizations  that 


460  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

own  or  control  large  monetary  power.  It  is  well  that 
every  future  citizen  of  California  should  know  how  the 
United  States  government  came  to  spend  millions  of 
dollars  hi  the  construction  of  a  harbor  at  San  Pedro, 
and  how  near,  at  one  time,  it  came  to  spending  those 
millions  at  Santa  Monica.  The  history  of  that  great 
conflict  is  intimately  woven  into  the  life  of  Stephen 
M.  White.  Here  is  what  his  biographer  says  of  it : 

"  No  record  of  this  strong,  brave  man's  career 
would  be  complete  without  especial  reference  to  his 
tireless  and  successful  contest  for  the  establishment 
of  a  free  harbor  at  the  port  of  San  Pedro  on  the  coast 
of  Southern  California.  ...  In  all  the  history  of 
American  legislation  never  was  there  made  a  more 
bitter,  relentless  and  uncompromising  fight  on  both 
sides.  On  one  side  the  people,  knowing  their  rights 
and  daring  to  maintain  them,  on  the  opposing  side  one 
of  the  most  powerful  corporations  on  the  Continent 
led  by  one  of  the  most  adroit,  capable  and  stubborn 
of  men.  The  corporation  was  the  Southern  Pacific 
Company,  of  Kentucky  —  a  corporation  wholly  Cali- 
fornian,  and  Kentuckian  only  in  name;  its  intrepid 
leader  and  president  was  Collis  P.  Huntington;  the 
leader  in  the  people's  cause  was  Stephen  M.  White, 
United  States  Senator  from  California. 

"  Successive  Boards  of  Engineers  representing  the 
government  of  the  United  States  had  selected  San 
Pedro  as  the  site  for  a  deep-sea  harbor,  and  the  con- 
struction of  a  breakwater,  whose  cost  would  run  into 
the  millions  of  dollars.  Mr.  Huntington,  for  reasons 
sufficient  unto  himself,  and  probably  apparent  to  every 


o 

K        . 


L 


STEPHEN  M.  WHITE  461 

one  having  no  more  than  a  superficial  knowledge  of 
the  conditions  surrounding  the  selection  of  a  harbor  site, 
decided  that  the  government  must  and  should  locate 
the  harbor  several  miles  further  up  the  coast  at  Santa 
Monica  in  an  (almost)  open  roadstead.  Certain  of  the 
examining  board  of  engineers  considered  both  sites,  and 
all  of  them  who  did  so  decided  against  the  Santa  Monica 
proposition  and  in  favor  of  San  Pedro.  But  Collis 
P.  Huntington,  with  his  powerful  corporation  behind 
him,  stood  fast.  The  case  seemed  hopeless.  The 
forces  of  money,  position,  daring  and  determination 
were  in  combination  for  the  Santa  Monica  project. 
On  the  other  side  stood  the  reports  of  honest  and  com- 
petent governmental  engineers,  the  people  —  and 
Stephen  M.  White. 

"  The  battle  was  on.  And  how  it  raged  for  five  long 
years,  no  resident  in  the  southern  portion  of  California 
is  likely  to  forget.  Doggedly,  determinedly,  bitterly, 
Mr.  Huntington  and  his  powerful  array  of  attorneys 
hung  to  the  cause  of  Santa  Monica  with  the  grip  of  tiger 
jaws.  Washington  swarmed  with  lobbyists.  Hunting- 
ton  himself  went  to  the  capital  to  appeal  to  Senators  and 
Representatives  with  the  power  of  his  millions  and 
the  promises  of  the  great  things  that  could  be  accom- 
plished by  his  influence. 

"  As  has  been  said,  when  Senator  White  entered 
upon  this  task  for  the  people,  the  case  seemed  hopeless 
—  the  force  on  one  side  seemed  so  powerfully  mighty, 
that  on  the  side  of  the  people  so  pitifully  weak. 

"  But  the  race  is  not  always  to  the  swift  nor  the 
battle  to  the  strong.  The  people  won.  Congress  sup- 


462  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

ported  the  reports  of  the  engineers  and  made  appropri- 
ation for  the  construction  of  a  deep-sea  harbor  at  San 
Pedro. 

"  Then  there  was  a  further  contest  in  opposition  to 
the  construction  of  the  harbor,  even  after  Congress  had 
definitely  made  a  location  thereof  and  authorized 
and  instructed  the  commencement  of  the  work."  The 
Secretary  of  War,  purely  on  his  own  responsibility, 
"  held  up  "  the  work.  But  he  had  Stephen  M.  White 
to  count  with,  and  again  the  people  won.  The  War 
Secretary  was  driven  from  the  false  position  he  had 
assumed,  and  the  contract  was  let. 

"  At  this  writing  (June,  1903)  the  great  harbor  at 
San  Pedro  is  well  along  toward  completion.  And  there 
it  will  remain  forever  a  monument  to  the  sagacity, 
cleverness,  adroitness,  audacity,  and  unswerving  loyalty 
of  Stephen  M.  White! 

"  During  the  pendency  of  that  strenuous  contest, 
and  upon  the  occasion  of  one  of  Mr.  Huntington's 
many  visits  to  the  national  capital,  the  magnate  of 
many  millions  met  Senator  White  at  a  hotel  in  which 
they  were  mutual  guests.  One  evening  Mr.  Huntington 
requested  Senator  White  to  come  to  his  rooms.  The 
story  of  that  interview  has  been  told  by  a  writer  in  the 
Los  Angeles  Times  as  related  by  Senator  White  him- 
self. Said  the  Senator  in  telling  of  some  incidents 
of  the  great  harbor  contest :  '  He  (Mr.  Huntington) 
asked  if  there  was  no  way  for  us  to  get  together  on  the 
harbor  business.  I  said  that  I  did  not  see  any  way 
to  do  so  —  that  I  did  not  think  that  he  would  give  up, 
and  I  knew  I  would  not. 


STEPHEN  M.  WHITE  463 

"  '  Said  he  (Mr.  Huntington),  "  I  don't  see  why.  It 
might  be  to  your  advantage  not  to  be  so  set  in  your 
opinion."  I  then  said  to  him:  "  Mr.  Huntington,  if 
that  harbor  were  my  personal  possession,  and  you 
wanted  it,  there  would  be  an  easy  way  for  us  to  get 
together  and  one  or  both  of  us  make  some  money.  But 
as  that  harbor  belongs  to  the  people,  and  I  am  merely 
holding  it  in  trust  for  them,  and  have  no  right  to  give 
it  away,  I  do  not  see  how  we  can  come  to  any  under- 
standing." 

"  '  "Certainly,"  said  Mr.  Huntington,  "  that  is  very 
high  moral  ground  to  take,  but  a  little  quixotic.  The 
people  will  think  no  more  of  you  in  the  end.  Many 
will  think  less  of  you."  I  said,  "  Mr.  Huntington,  I  am 
not  taking  your  view  of  that  matter  either.  It  is  my 
own  self-respect  I  am  looking  at  now."  So  the  matter 
closed.' 

"  After  it  was  all  over  and  the  fight  was  won  for  the 
people,  the  millionaire  came  to  the  Senator,  and  in  the 
course  of  conversation  said:  '  White,  I  like  and  respect 
you.  You  are  almost  always  against  me,  but  it  is  not 
for  what  you  can  make  out  of  us  to  come  over.  You 
have  a  steadfast  principle  and  you  fight  like  a  man,  in 
the  open  and  with  clean  weapons.  I  cannot  say  that 
of  all  the  public  men  I  have  had  to  deal  with.' 

"  The  man  who  could  wring  that  tribute  from  Collis 
P.  Huntington  had  won  a  greater  victory  than  the  mere 
act  of  winning  a  contest  for  a  cause  of  the  people.  It 
was  a  tribute  to  manhood.  It  was  a  laurel  wreath  of 
immortality,  not  because  it  came  from  a  millionaire,  but 
because  it  was  an  acknowledgment  of  honesty  and 


464  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

loyalty  and  of  the  respect  those  qualities  must  earn 
from  the  most  bitter  and  relentless  opponent." 

The  concluding  paragraphs  of  Mr.  White's  speech 
in  the  United  States  Senate  on  this  subject  are  well 
worth  pondering: 

"  The  struggle  which  I  have  made  here  may  seem 
stubborn  to  some,  but  it  is  maintained  in  the  conscious- 
ness and  belief  that  I  am  acting  for  the  public  interest. 
No  demagogical  appeal  —  notwithstanding  intimations 
to  the  contrary  —  has  influenced  or  ever  will  influence 
me.  I  have  been  able  to  maintain  myself  in  my  con- 
servative methods  without  condescending  to  belittle- 
ments.  I  experience  natural  pride  in  my  presence  here, 
but  I  would  willingly  sacrifice  that  honor  rather  than 
yield  my  maturely  formed  judgment  to  any  senseless 
clamor,  to  threats  or  flattery,  to  condemnation  or  ap- 
plause, and  I  might  say,  Mr.  President,  that  I  would 
rather  be  a  lawyer  whose  word  was  as  good  as  a  rich 
man's  bond,  and  whose  opinion  upon  an  intricate 
question  of  judicial  science  was  valued  by  the  master 
minds  of  my  profession,  than  to  hold  in  my  hand  all  the 
honors  that  ever  were  won  by  appeals  to  the  passions 
or  prejudices  of  men." 


L 


COMBINED    HARVESTER   AND   THRASHER    ON    RANCH    OF    H.    M. 
KINNEY,    IMPERIAL    VALLEY. 

Page 


ONE    OF   THE    IRRIGATING    DITCHES    WHICH    HAVE    MADE   THE 

CHANGE    IN   THE    IMPERIAL    VALLEY. 

Page 


CHAPTER    XLI 

THE    EXECUTIVE    HERO    OF    IRRIGATION,    WILLIAM 
ELLSWORTH   SMYTHE 

T  T  7E  have  seen,  in  a  preceding  chapter,  the  wonderful 
»  *  effect  of  irrigation  in  certain  localities,  such  as 
the  Imperial  Valley  and  Riverside.  We  have  seen  the 
barren,  desolate,  lizard- occupied  rancho  of  La  Jurupa, 
and  the  sun-baked,  thrice-heated,  below- sea- level- area 
of  the  Imperial  Valley  converted  into  rich,  prosperous 
and  beautifully  fertile  regions  by  the  wise  introduction 
of  water.  But  the  problems  of  irrigation  are  many 
and  various,  and  those  who  have  educated  the  people 
to  a  proper  understanding  of  the  possibilities  existent 
in  this  method  of  farming,  have  had  to  do,  at  the  same 
time,  a  large  amount  of  studying  and  experimenting 
to  rightly  use  it  to  the  best  advantage.  The  educators 
of  the  people  in  irrigation,  therefore,  have  had  to  be 
pioneers,  —  pioneers  of  peace,  happiness,  home- mak- 
ing, content  for  men,  women  and  children.  It  is  an 
honored  and  blessed  occupation  to  show  a  struggling 
man  how  he  may  make  a  comfortable  home  without 
struggle,  with  nothing  but  ordinary  and  reasonable 
labor.  It  is  a  power  to  be  thankful  for,  to  be  able  to  take 
men  from  the  ranks  of  the  hopeless  and  place  them 
where  happiness  and  peace  again  smile  upon  them. 
Why  should  not  a  man  who  can  do  this  be  regarded 


466  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

and  acclaimed  as  a  hero,  a  real  hero,  as  much  as  the 
man  who  guides  a  number  of  his  fellowmen  on  a 
slaughtering  expedition?  Why  should  not  a  man  who 
leads  such  a  forlorn  hope  as  this,  and  who  brings  the 
joy  of  content  to  thousands,  be  hailed  as  a  hero  as 
well  as  he  who  leads  the  volunteers  to  the  forlorn  hope 
of  the  battle-field? 

Such  a  hero  is  William  Ellsworth  Smythe,  one  of  the 
generals  (if  we  must  have  military  terms)  of  the  Irri- 
gation Movement.  The  history  of  this  movement 
reads  like  a  fairy  tale.  All  the  elements  of  marvel 
are  in  it,  with  the  "  lived  happy  ever  after  "  at  the 
end,  applying  itself  actually  to  millions  of  lives.  In 
America  it  practically  began  with  the  work  of  Major 
J.  W.  Powell,  a  hero  of  the  highest  type,  the  subject 
of  a  chapter  elsewhere  in  this  book.  His  was  the  pro- 
phetic eye,  the  large  vision,  the  devotion  of  misunder- 
stood work  for  the  general  benefit  of  humanity.  But 
he  was  a  careful  scientist,  though  a  far-seeing  humani- 
tarian, and  a  long-visioned  prophet.  As  the  Director 
of  the  United  States  Geological  Survey  he  was  able 
to  make  a  thorough  study  of  conditions  throughout 
the  arid  West,  and  pave  the  wray  for  the  accomplish- 
ment of  the  dream  he  had  dreamed.  Rudely  outlined, 
his  plan  contemplated  the  securing  by  the  national 
Government  of  all  the  natural  sites  for  vast  reservoirs, 
the  scientific  impounding  of  wraste  waters  of  streams, 
springs  and  rainfall,  the  conveying  of  this  water  in  the 
most  effective  manner  to  the  soil  of  the  arid  regions 
that  was  practically  worthless  without  it,  the  establish- 
ment of  experimental  farms  in  the  different  localities, 


WILLIAM  E.  SMYTHE  467 

so  that  experts  could  guide  settlers  in  their  choice  of 
crops,  and  then  the  calling  of  the  people  to  occupy 
the  lands,  make  their  homes  upon  them,  become  actual 
owners  of  the  soil,  tillers  of  it,  and  thus  develop  hith- 
erto useless  territory  into  powerful  and  prosperous 
communities. 

But  to  accomplish  all  this  work  required  several 
important  preliminaries.  The  cost  would  be  enormous. 
How  was  it  to  be  met  ?  The  legislators  who  handle  the 
money  of  the  nation  do  not  always  see  with  the  far- 
seeing  eye  of  the  keen-brained  scientist.  They,  there- 
fore, must  not  only  be  educated,  but  the  people  must 
also  be  educated  to  see  the  possibilities  —  nay,  the 
absolute  certainties  of  the  project  —  or  they  would 
condemn  the  wholesale  expenditures  required  to  bring 
them  to  pass. 

Here  is  where  the  hero  volunteered,  and  sprang  into 
the  breach.  Here  is  where  the  standard  bearer  raised 
the  flag  on  high,  shouted  Follow  me!  and  daringly 
rushed  to  the  battle.  And  it  is  no  mere  figure  of  speech 
to  use  such  words.  It  was  —  if  not  a  forlorn  hope  — 
a  gigantic  task  to  educate  the  people;  it  was  an 
onslaught  upon  ignorance  and  prejudice.  It  was  a 
philanthropic  campaign  that  only  a  generous-hearted, 
clear-brained,  impulsive-souled  volunteer  could  have 
undertaken  and  carried  to  success.  If  a  cold-blooded 
man  had  stepped  forward  and  undertaken  the  work, 
it  would  never  have  been  done.  It  required  fervor,  en- 
thusiasm and  verve  to  inspire  the  people  with  faith, 
to  convince  them  of  the  possibilities,  and  lead  them  to 
desire  to  enjoy  them. 


468  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

William  Ellsworth  Smythe  was  the  man,  prepared 
of  God,  for  this  especial  work.  Born  in  Worcester, 
Massachusetts,  December  24,  1861,  he  missed,  only 
by  one  day,  being  the  Christmas  gift  of  blessing  to  his 
parents,  which  he  has  since  become  to  his  race  and 
people.  He  has  been,  indeed,  a  messenger  of  peace  and 
glad  tidings  to  many.  When  he  was  about  twelve 
years  old  his  father  suffered  one  of  those  financial 
reverses  that  seem  to  be  great  adversities  and  burdens 
at  the  time,  but  that  later  developments  show  to  have 
been  great  blessings  in  disguise.  Mr.  Smythe,  Senior, 
was  a  wealthy  manufacturer,  of  Pilgrim  and  Revolu- 
tionary stock,  and  had  he  not  met  with  this  reverse, 
there  is  no  doubt  but  that  his  son  would  have  grown  up 
in  the  easy  circumstances  and  consequently  easy  life 
of  many  another  son  of  equally  well-to-do  parents. 
At  sixteen  the  growing  lad  had  to  leave  the  home  nest, 
and  cast  about  for  the  future.  He  had  just  read  Par- 
ton's  Life  of  Greeley,  and  was  crammed  full  of  "  Old 
Horace,"  his  enthusiasm  for  agriculture,  for  the  West, 
his  broad  humanitarianism,  bordering  upon  socialism, 
and  was  fired  with  his  presentation  of  Fourierism  and 
the  new  institutions  of  benefit  and  blessings  to  be  de- 
rived from  the  building  up  of  colonies.  It  would  be 
interesting  to  the  world  that  is  to-day  reaping  the 
benefit  of  Mr.  Smythe's  active  life  could  all  the  subtle, 
and  at  the  same  time  powerful,  influence  of  that  book 
of  Parton's  be  made  manifest.  It  is  self-evident  to  the 
outsider  that  to  this  day  he  is  pouring  out  through 
his  own  mental  filter  the  ideas  poured  into  it  in  those 
days  of  his  boyhood.  Indeed,  I  make  the  bold  assertion 


WILLIAM  E.  SMYTHE  469 

that  had  Horace  Greeley  lived  a  generation  later,  in 
Smythe's  environment,  he  would  have  undertaken 
exactly  the  same  work  that  Smythe  has  done. 

In  due  time  Smythe  heeded  the  great  journalist's 
advice,  and  came  West.  After  an  unsuccessful  attempt 
at  book-publishing,  he  set  his  face  westward,  and  in 
1888,  when  he  was  twenty-seven  years  old,  settled 
at  Kearney,  Nebraska,  which  was  being  boomed  by 
a  New  England  syndicate,  and  for  two  years  edited 
the  daily  paper  they  established.  Here  was  the  be- 
ginning of  his  education  for  his  larger  work.  The 
bottom  dropped  out  of  the  boom  and  he  went  to  the 
Omaha  Bee.  While  there  he  felt  the  full,  dire,  awful 
force  of  the  Great  Drought  of  1890. 

Only  those  who  have  actually  seen  and  felt  it  can 
know  the  terrible  calamity  a  drought  is  in  these  Western 
regions.  The  Eastern  mind  cannot  conceive  it.  Where 
rain  falls  abundantly  and  grass  is  always  green,  there 
is  no  comprehension  of  the  entirely  different  condi- 
tions of  the  West.  Panic  speedily  entered  the  hearts 
of  thousands.  The  drought  spelled  absolute  ruin. 
There  was  no  hope.  Starvation  for  themselves  and 
families  drove  some  men  to  insanity,  others  to  suicide. 

Now  was  the  time  for  the  launching  of  the  irrigation 
movement.  Despair  would  compel  attention,  and 
enthusiasm  combined  with  reason  would  inspire  new 
hope.  Let  Mr.  Smythe  tell  his  own  story  from  a 
chapter  of  his  book,  entitled  The  Conquest  of  Arid 
America. 

"  In  1890  I  was  an  editorial  writer  on  the  Omaha 
Bee,  under  that  strong  and  able  leader  of  Nebraska 


470  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

public  opinion,  Edward  Rosewater.  During  the  pre- 
vious summer  I  had  made  a  brief  trip  to  the  Maxwell 
land  grant  in  New  Mexico,  and  for  the  first  time  saw 
men  engaged  in  turning  water  upon  land  to  make  good 
the  deficiencies  of  rainfall.  I  suppose  I  had  heard  or 
read  the  word  '  irrigation,'  though  I  have  no  recollec- 
tion of  it.  Certainly,  the  word  meant  nothing  to  me 
until  the  drought  struck  Nebraska  a  year  later.  Then 
the  thought  occurred  to  me  that  the  several  fine  streams 
flowing  through  the  State  might  be  employed  to  excel- 
lent advantage.  Men  were  shooting  their  horses  and 
abandoning  their  farms,  within  sight  of  these  streams. 
There  were  the  soil,  the  sunshine,  and  the  waters,  but 
the  people  did  not  understand  the  secret  of  prosperity, 
even  with  such  broad  hints  before  their  eyes. 

"  I  thought  of  the  thrifty  orchards  and  gardens 
I  had  seen  on  the  Las  Animas  and  the  Vermejo,  a 
few  hundred  miles  farther  southwest,  and  when  Mr. 
Rosewater  directed  me  to  write  editorials  urging  the 
public  to  contribute  money,  food  and  seed  for  the 
drought-stricken  farmers  of  Nebraska,  I  suggested 
that  these  should  be  supplemented  by  a  series  of  papers 
dealing  with  the  possibilities  of  irrigation.  He  gave 
me  permission  to  do  so,  on  condition  that  I  would  sign 
the  articles  myself,  as  it  was  then  considered  little  less 
than  a  libel  to  say  that  irrigation  was  needed  in  that 
part  of  the  country. 

"  How  many  lives  those  articles  influenced,  or  are 
even  yet  to  influence  through  the  forces  they  set  in 
motion,  I  do  not  know;  but  they  changed  my  life 
completely.  I  had  taken  the  cross  of  a  new  crusade. 


WILLIAM  E.  SMYTHE  471 

To  my  mind,  irrigation  seemed  the  biggest  thing  in 
the  world.  It  was  not  merely  a  matter  of  ditches  and 
acres,  but  a  philosophy,  a  religion  and  a  programme 
of  practical  statesmanship  rolled  into  one.  There  was 
apparently  no  such  thing  as  ever  getting  to  the  bottom 
of  the  subject,  for  it  expanded  in  all  directions  and 
grew  in  importance  with  each  unfoldment.  Of  course, 
all  this  was  not  realized  at  first,  yet  from  the  beginning 
I  was  deeply  impressed  with  the  magnitude  of  the  work 
that  had  fallen  to  my  hand  and  knew  that  I  must  cut 
loose  from  all  other  interests  and  endeavor  to  rouse  the 
nation  to  a  realizing  sense  of  its  duty  and  opportunity. 

"  The  first  result  of  the  articles  in  the  Bee  was  a 
series  of  irrigation  conventions  in  western  Nebraska, 
beginning  with  the  one  at  Culbertson,  the  seat  of 
Hitchcock  County.  These  county  gatherings  led  to 
a  State  Convention  at  Lincoln,  and  the  State  Conven- 
tion made  me  chairman  of  a  committee  to  arrange  for 
a  National  Irrigation  Congress,  which  was  held  a 
few  months  later  at  Salt  Lake,  within  sight  of  the 
historic  ditch  on  City  Creek,  where  English-speaking 
men  began  the  conquest  of  the  desert. 

"  I  resigned  my  comfortable  place  on  the  Bee, 
launched  the  Irrigation  Age  (the  first  journal  of  its 
kind  hi  the  world,  so  far  as  I  know),  and  went  forth 
to  do  what  I  could.  It  was  my  rare  good  fortune  to  find 
a  life-work,  while  yet  on  the  sunny  side  of  thirty,  to 
which  I  could  give  my  heart  and  soul  with  all  a  young 
man's  enthusiasm." 

The  ball  was  thus  set  rolling,  and  it  has  rolled 
on  ever  since.  The  second  Congress  was  held  in  Los 


472          HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

Angeles,  in  1893  (this  was  the  memorable  Congress  to 
which  reference  is  made  in  the  chapter  on  Major 
Powell).  The  third  was  in  Denver,  in  1894,  and  there 
have  been  subsequent  ones  at  Albuquerque,  New  Mex- 
ico, hi  1895;  at  Phoenix,  Arizona,  in  1896;  at  Lincoln, 
Nebraska,  in  1897;  at  Cheyenne,  Wyoming,  in  1898; 
at  Missoula,  Montana,  in  1899,  etc. 

In  1897  a  wonderful  impetus  was  given  to  the  move- 
ment by  the  publication  of  Captain  Hiram  M.  Chit- 
tenden's  Reservoirs  in  the  Arid  Region.  Trained  in 
the  United  States  Corps  of  Engineers,  formerly  in 
charge  of  the  government  wrorks  in  the  Yellowstone 
National  Park  and  on  important  Western  rivers,  and 
then  assigned  to  the  study  of  reservoir  problems  on 
certain  rivers  of  the  West,  he  brought  to  the  subject 
the  powers  of  a  scientific  mind  well  able  to  grasp  the 
subject  with  a  thorough  comprehension.  He  "  recom- 
mended that  the  government  should  acquire  full  title 
to  and  jurisdiction  over  any  reservoir  site  which  it 
might  improve,  and  full  right  to  the  water  necessary 
to  fill  the  reservoir;  also  that  it  should  build,  own,  and 
operate  the  works,  holding  the  stored  waters  abso- 
lutely free  for  public  use  under  local  regulations." 

The  question  as  to  whether  the  public  lands  to  be 
irrigated  should  be  ceded  to  the  different  States  had 
been  already  practically  disposed  of  by  Major  Powell's 
attitude,  and  the  public  interest  that  had  followed  the 
dissemination  of  his  ideas.  It  was  seen  that  such  a 
cession  would  soon  amount  to  nothing  more  than  the 
control  of  it  all  by  private  wealthy  owners,  who  would 
use  it  for  their  own  selfish  monetary  gain. 


WILLIAM  E.  SMYTHE  473 

Now  that  Captain  Chittenden  suggested  the  pro- 
cedure for  the  conducting  of  the  reservoirs,  light  upon 
the  whole  problem  seemed  to  be  at  hand. 

In  the  meantime  two  other  Californians  had  become 
interested  in  the  Irrigation  Question  and  all  it  impiied. 
Mr.  George  H.  Maxwell,  a  young  lawyer,  with  energy, 
power  and  foresight,  organized  the  National  Irrigation 
Association,  and  Mr.  C.  B.  Boothe,  a  Los  Angeles 
merchant,  threw  himself  heart  and  soul  into  the  move- 
ment. In  1900  the  political  parties  took  it  up,  and  the 
issue  was  thus  made  national  and  put  squarely  before 
the  people.  The  results  are  generally  well  known. 
The  irrigation  works  of  the  United  States  Reclamation 
Service  already  completed  rival  the  seven  wonders  of 
the  ancient  world  in  their  magnitude;  and  in  the 
influence  they  have  had  upon  the  people,  they  surpass 
them  ten  thousand  fold.  It  gives  a  patriotic  American 
a  thrill  of  pride  to  see  the  Laguna  Dam  on  the  Colorado 
River,  the  Roosevelt  Dam  and  that  at  Granite  Reef, 
on  the  Salt  River  hi  Arizona,  the  Carson-Truckee  Dam 
in  the  Sierras,  that  of  Yakima,  and  all  the  others. 

And  who  is  able  to  estimate  the  far-reaching  results 
of  these  colossal  works  ?  Think  of  what  it  means,  — 
the  influx  of  such  vast  and  active  populations  in  these 
once  barren  and  desolate  regions!  The  building  up  of 
new  communities.  The  establishment  of  thousands  of 
new  and  prosperous  homes,  for  ever  free  from  the  fear, 
the  dread,  the  overhanging  pall  of  the  possibility  of 
years  of  drought.  Who  would  not  rather  be  the  man 
who  materially  aided  in  bringing  this  beneficent  result 
to  pass  than  wear  all  the  honors  of  Napoleon?  So 


474  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

we  hail  thee,  William  E.  Smythe,  as  one  of  the  great 
heroes  of  peace,  for  we  are  realizing  more  and  more 
each  year  the  truth  of  Milton's  great  statement  in  his 
Sonnet  to  Cromwell: 

"  Peace  hath  her  victories 
No  less  renowned  than  War." 

In  the  forepart  of  his  book  Mr.  Smythe  has  the  fol- 
lowing, which  but  states  the  facts: 

EMANCIPATION 

The  Nation  reaches  its  hand  into  the  Desert, 
And  lo!   private  monopoly  in  water  and  in  land  is 
scourged  from  that  holiest  of  temples,  —  the  place  where 
men  labor  and  build  their  homes! 

The  Nation  reaches  its  hand  into  the  Desert. 
The  wasting  floods  stand  back,  the  streams  obey 
their  master,  and  the  stricken  forests  spring  to  life  again 
upon  the  forsaken  mountains! 

The  Nation  reaches  its  hand  into  the  Desert. 
The  barred  doors  of  the  sleeping  empire  are  flung 
wide  open  to  the  eager  and  the  willing,  that  they  may 
enter  in  and  claim  their  heritage! 

The  Nation  reaches  its  hand  into  the  Desert. 
That  which  lay  beyond  the  grasp  of  the  Individual 
yields  to  the  hand  of  Associated  Man.     Great  is  the 
Achievement,  —  greater  the  Prophecy ! 

It  is  literally  true  that,  as  the  result  of  the  work 
of  education  begun  by  Major  Powell  and  so  success- 


WILLIAM  E.   SMYTHE  475 

fully  carried  on  by  Mr.  Smythe,  the  people  of  the  United 
States  are,  in  the  main,  aroused  to  the  need  of  con- 
servation of  our  national  resources,  and  not  only  our 
own  nation,  but  the  world,  for  an  International  Con- 
ference is  soon  to  be  held  at  The  Hague  upon  the  sub- 
ject. 

To  William  E.  Smythe,  more  than  to  any  other 
man,  is  entitled  the  credit  for  two  things  in  this  irriga- 
tion movement:  He  created  the  popular  literature 
upon  the  subject,  and  put  a  soul  into  it.  While  Powell's 
work  was  comprehensive,  it  reaches  only  the  scientist 
and  statesman.  It  was  preliminary  work,  —  the  deep 
concrete  work  of  the  foundation;  necessary  and  essen- 
tial, but  not  seen  and  known  of  the  masses.  Smythe 
popularized  the  subject,  and  throwing  his  very  soul 
into  the  work,  vivified  it  so  that  the  world  lifted  its  head 
and  listened.  With  a  voice  of  eloquence  and  power, 
he  toured  the  country,  lecturing  with  Western  vim  and 
enthusiasm  upon  the  theme  that  had  so  fully  taken  pos- 
session of  him. 

He  wrote  convincing  and  enthusiastic  articles  which 
gained  admission  into  the  Century,  Atlantic  Monthly, 
North  American  Review  and  all  sorts  of  publications. 
The  first  paper  in  the  Century  evoked  a  two-column 
leader  from  the  New  York  Sun,  which  treated  the 
matter  almost  as  the  discovery  of  a  new  empire.  Then, 
too,  his  book,  The  Conquest  of  Arid  America,  contains 
three  elements  of  value,  which  have  given  it  a  real  and 
permanent  acceptance. 

I.  It  is  scientific.  It  discloses  the  real  economic 
character  of  aridity  and  of  irrigation  and  of  our  climate. 


476  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

II.  It  is  historical.    It  sketches  the  unfoldment  of 
Western  life  and  institutions,  and  shows  how  later  de- 
velopments have  depended  upon  irrigation. 

III.  It  is  practical.     It  >gives  reliable,  definite  in- 
formation for  the  home  seeker.    Personally  I  know  of 
scores  throughout  this  great  Western  empire  who  have 
come  here  purely  on  the  strength  of  this  book,  and 
the  comfort  and  content  of  these  men  and  their  families 
is  more  than  honor  and  fame.    Is  not  this  a  making  of 
history  more  worthy  of  record  than  the  chronicle  of 
bloody  battles,  fought  for  the  furtherance  of  selfish  ends, 
and  those  that  deal  only  with  the  horrible,  the  mean,  the 
reprehensible  traits  of  human  nature?    Here  has  been 
a  warfare  for  the  public  good,   and  not  for  selfish 
purposes.    Mr.  Smythe's  labors  have  been  at  the  cost 
of  much  personal  sacrifice,  of  consecrated  devotion, 
of  financial  loss.    Had  he  bestowed  the  same  amount  of 
thought,  energy  and  ability  to  the  public  lecture  plat- 
form and  thought  only  of  his  own  financial  good,  he 
could   have   made   himself   independently   rich   long 
ere  now.     But  he  has  resolutely  kept  his  face  to  the 
stars.     Even  in  his  practical  projects,  —  which  have 
made  money  for  others,  —  he  has  labored  only  until 
success  was  assured,  and  then  stepped  out  to  further 
his  larger  plans  elsewhere.    In  Idaho,  in  1895,  he  and 
Benjamin   P.    Shawhan   established   New   Plymouth, 
in  the  Payette  Valley,  twelve  miles  from  the  town  of 
Payette.    The  pioneers  of  this  settlement  were  of  rather 
unusual    quality,    being    drawn    largely    from    urban 
business  and  professional  life,  yet  they  entered  enthusi- 
astically and  successfully  upon  the  work  of  making 


WILLIAM  E.  SMYTHE  477 

homes  on  sage-brush  land,  twelve  miles  from  a 
railroad,  in  a  remote  and  undeveloped  part  of  the 
West. 

"  The  Plymouth  industrial  programme  aimed  at 
complete  independence  of  the  people  by  the  simple 
method  of  producing  the  variety  of  things  consumed, 
on  small,  diversified  farms;  of  having  surplus  products, 
principally  fruit,  for  sale  in  home  and  Eastern  markets; 
and  by  combining  the  capital  of  the  settlers,  by  incor- 
poration of  a  stock  company,  to  own  and  develop  the 
town-site,  and  to  erect  and  operate  simple  industries 
required  hi  connection  with  the  products  of  the  soil. 
On  the  social  side,  the  plan  aimed  to  give  these  farmers 
the  best  advantages  of  town  life,  or  at  least  of  neighbor- 
hood association.  This  was  accomplished  by  assem- 
bling the  houses  in  a  central  village,  laid  out,  in  accord- 
ance with  a  beautiful  plan,  with  residences  grouped 
on  an  outside  circle  touching  the  farms  at  all  points. 
This  plan  brought  the  settlers  close  together  on  acre- 
lots  —  "  home  acres  "  —  thus  preventing  isolation, 
and  giving  them  the  benefit  of  school,  church,  post- 
office,  store,  library,  and  entertainments. 

"  The  Plymouth  settlers  have  been  contented  and 
prosperous  from  the  first,  and  have  had  less  than  the 
usual  share  of  early  trials  and  disappointments.  They 
testify  that  the  social  advantages  of  the  colony  plan,  as 
compared  with  the  drawbacks  of  individual  and  iso- 
lated settlements,  are  alone  sufficient  to  warrant  its 
use.  Availing  themselves  of  a  favorable  opportunity, 
they  acquired  the  irrigation  system  and  other  valuable 
property  by  purchase  from  the  Eastern  bondholders, 


478  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

on  terms  which  went  far  to  enrich  them  as  a  commun- 
ity." ' 

This  was  an  important  work,  but  as  soon  as  it  was 
well  on  its  feet,  Mr.  Smythe's  boundless  energy  re- 
quired a  new  field  for  its  manifestation. 

The  question  has  often  been  asked:  How  much 
land  is  necessary  to  enable  a  man  and  his  family  to 
live  healthfully  and  comfortably  ?  All  kinds  of  answers 
have  been  given  to  this  question,  and  the  quantity  of 
land  has  been  variously  estimated  from  a  few  acres  to 
as  high  as  sixty  or  more.  No  one,  however,  who  has 
seen  the  small  holdings  of  the  farmers  of  Brittany,  and 
made  himself  aware  of  their  productiveness  under  care- 
ful cultivation,  needs  to  be  told  that  a  large  acreage  is 
not  essential  to  comfort,  happiness  and  content. 

In  the  sunny  climate  of  California,  with  fertile  soil 
and  crops  controlled  by  irrigation,  everything  is  favor- 
able to  the  development  of  the  small  landholder.  Mr. 
Smythe's  knowledge,  both  of  California  and  the  prac- 
tical needs  of  the  farmer,  were  now  brought  into  play 
in  what  might  be  regarded  as  by  far  the  most  important 
work  of  his  life.  He  enunciated  the  bold  doctrine  that 
a  family  can  find  true  independence  on  one  acre,  and 
that  when  this  fact  is  understood,  the  great  West  can 
meet  the  material,  social,  intellectual  and  spiritual 
needs  of  millions  of  people. 

To  put  his  ideas  into  concrete  form,  as  he  had  the 
colony  idea  in  Idaho,  he  interested  land  owners  and 
others,  and  after  careful  and  thorough  study  selected 

1  The  Conquest  of  Arid  America,  by  Wm.  E.  Smythe,  Macmillans, 
p.  192. 


WILLIAM  E.   SMYTHE  479 

a  large  tract  of  land  some  seventeen  miles  from  San 
Diego,  on  a  line  of  railroad,  and  there  organized  the 
"  Little  Landers."  This  was  in  July  28,  1908. 

Colonists  pay  on  an  average  five  hundred  dollars, 
which  includes  their  acreage,  a  lot  fifty  by  one  hundred 
and  fifty  in  the  beautiful  village,  and  a  share  in  all  the 
improvements.  These  improvements  include  water 
piped  in  village  lot  and  acre,  land  graded  for  irrigation, 
park  laid  out  and  improved  (each  home  will  front  upon 
the  park),  street  graded,  side- walks,  curbs  and  sewer- 
age installed,  and  village  hall  built  and  ready  for  use. 
When  the  improvements  are  completed  and  the  entire 
acreage  sold  and  brought  under  cultivation,  all  public 
works  will  be  turned  over  to  the  landowners,  by  means 
of  a  local  corporation  of  which  they  will  be  the  stock- 
holders. The  mutual  water  company  will  maintain  the 
park.  Thus  we  have  public  ownership  of  those  things 
used  by  the  public,  and  private  ownership  of  those 
things  (town  lot  and  acre)  used  by  the  individual. 

No  land  whatever  is  sold  for  speculation.  Every 
purchaser  must  be  an  actual  settler,  in  person  or  by 
proxy,  and  his  title  to  the  land  is  made  contingent  upon 
his  beginning  to  improve  his  "  acre  "  within  six  months 
of  the  date  of  purchase. 

Already  a  large  settlement  has  demonstrated  the 
truth  of  the  proposition.  As  a  speaker  recently  de- 
clared in  the  village  hall  of  the  "Little  Landers:" 
"  Your  fundamental  proposition,  that  one  acre  of 
land  in  this  climate,  intelligently  tilled,  with  a  market 
direct  to  the  consumer,  will  support  a  family  in  com- 
fort, is  absolutely  true.  I  know  it  to  be  true  —  have 


480  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

known  it  for  years.  But  William  E.  Smythe  is  the 
only  ma.n  in  the  United  States  who  would  have  dared 
to  proclaim  this  truth  and  proceed  to  put  it  into  action." 

In  commenting  on  this  statement,  Mr.  Smythe  says: 
"  Sometimes  I  wonder  if  mine  is  a  case  of  'fools  rush 
in  where  angels  fear  to  tread! '  Every  man  who  has 
really  studied  the  subject,  at  home  or  abroad,  knows 
the  possibilities  of  '  a  little  land  and  a  living.'  You 
may  be  sure  that  I  studied  it  very  thoroughly  before 
launching  the  Little  Landers.  I  studied  it  with  the  aid 
of  Bolt  on  Hall,  of  Prince  Krapotkin,  and  other  writers 
who  have  brought  together  the  experience  of  the  world, 
but  most  of  all  I  studied  it  in  California,  and  especially 
in  San  Diego. 

"  Given  water,  soil,  climate,  transportation,  market, 
industry  and  intelligence,  and  there  is  no  other  oppor- 
tunity in  the  world  so  certain  to  yield  a  generous  living 
to  the  average  man  as  the  acre  farm.  Oh,  make  it  two 
or  three  acres  if  you  will,  but  when  you  have  done  your 
best  on  your  two  or  three  acres,  I  will  show  you  men  who 
are  getting  better  results  on  less  land.  What  this  nation 
needs  is  landed  proprietors  working  for  themselves. 
What  we  want  at  San  Ysidro  is  land  lovingly  tilled 
by  the  hands  of  its  owners,  not  land  grudgingly  tilled 
by  the  alien  hands  of  hired  labor.  And  the  man  who 
tries  to  till  lovingly  much  more  than  an  acre  will  find 
the  job  too  big  for  him.  Of  course,  there  are  certain 
crops  which  do  not  require  close  attention,  and  if  a 
man  has  sufficient  capital  to  indulge  in  the  luxury,  he 
can  use  land  hi  that  way,  but  I  would  rather  see  an 
independent  family  living  on  every  acre." 


WILLIAM  E.  SMYTHE  481 

As  soon  as  the  men  and  women  in  our  cities,  who  are 
what  Jack  London  calls  "  The  People  of  the  Abyss," 
learn  what  this  "  Little  Landers  "  movement  means 
to  them,  and  true  philanthropists  are  found  who  will 
place  these  helpless  creatures  upon  the  land,  it  will 
soon  be  found  that  this  is  one  way  out  of  social 
bondage.  It  will  become  the  refuge  for  great  elements 
of  our  population. 

To  have  accomplished  so  great  a  result,  —  to  have 
set  in  motion  such  beneficent  forces,  is  indeed  to  have 
been  a  hero,  a  leader,  a  standard-bearer,  and  as  such 
California  and  the  nation  will  ever  honor  and  revere 
William  Ellsworth  Smythe. 


CHAPTER    XLII 

THE   PIONEER  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

(An  address  by  Judge  David  Belden) 

David  Belden  came  to  California  in  1855,  for  a  short  time 
was  engaged  in  mining,  became  a  lawyer,  and  was  finally  elected 
Judge  of  the  Superior  Court  of  Santa  Clara  County.  He  died  in 
San  Jose,  May  14,  1888.  He  resided  in  Nevada  City,  Nevada 
County,  when  he  decided  to  embrace  the  profession  of  law.  Though 
he  had  been  in  the  State  but  two  years,  his  personality  and  attain- 
ments had  so  impressed  themselves  upon  his  fellow-citizens  that  they 
invited  him,  in  1857,  to  deliver  the  Fourth  of  July  address  in  Nevada 
City.  He  consented  to  do  so,  but,  to  his  amazement,  he  learned  that 
it  was  the  intention  of  the  Committee  to  organize  a  burlesque  pro- 
cession which  should  caricature  the  events  that  occurred  at  the 
nation's  birth.  He  remonstrated  with  earnest  eloquence  against  such 
a  desecration  of  the  day,  and  tried  to  stem  the  tide  of  buffoonery 
which  seemed  to  be  swamping  the  patriotic  intelligence  of  his  friends. 
But  they  outvoted  him,  and  went  on  with  their  preparations.  Under 
such  circumstances,  most  men  would  have  assumed  an  air  of  offended 
dignity  and  resigned  from  the  position  offered,  lest  they  be  deemed 
party  to,  and  in  a  measure  responsible  for,  the  transgressions  against 
the  national  feeling  of  others.  But  not  so  with  Mr.  Belden.  He 
was  made  of  sterner  stuff.  He  occupied  the  position  of  "  orator  of 
the  day,"  and  delivered  a  rebuke,  keen,  sarcastic  and  scathing,  that  is 
remembered  to  this  day.  He,  himself,  was  a  pioneer,  and  also  a  hero, 
hence  it  is  appropriate  that  his  oration  on  the  Pioneer  Heroes  of 
California  should  find  place  in  this  volume. 

/~T"VHERE  have  been  many  orations  delivered  upon 
•*•  the  pioneers,  and  many  of  them  are  well  worth 
careful  perusal.  But  those  that  were  delivered  by  men 
who  were  themselves  pioneers,  and  were  spoken  to 
pioneers  while  the  memories  of  pioneer  days  were  still 
fresh,  have  a  vigor  and  a  personality  about  them  that 
the  orations  of  later  days  do  not  possess.  Even  less 


THE   PIONEER   HEROES  483 

than  thirty  years  after  the  great  gold  excitement  flooded 
the  coast  with  men  from  all  parts  of  the  world,  —  as 
early  as  1876,  —  Judge  Belden,  in  his  oration  at  San 
Jose,  expresses  the  feeling  that  the  event  was  far  away 
and  growingly  remote  in  the  past.  As  perhaps  the  best 
of  the  early  day  orations,  it  merits  a  place  in  this  book. 
It  was  not  a  prepared  and  polished  address.  Those 
who  heard  it,  and  Judge  Belden' s  friends,  claim  that 
it  was  a  purely  extemporaneous  effort.  If  so,  it  stands 
forth  as  a  model  of  vigorous  English,  of  wonderful 
construction,  of  vivid  power,  as  well  as  a  truthful  pano- 
rama of  the  scenes  of  the  pioneer's  life  and  experi- 
ences. After  a  few  preliminary  remarks,  Judge 
Belden  said: 

"  For  thirty  years,  not  only  over  this  State,  but  in 
many  of  the  principal  cities  of  the  East,  the  pioneers 
of  California  have  commemorated  their  advent  to  this 
coast.  At  each  gathering,  gifted  speakers,  with  what- 
ever of  genius,  eloquence,  poetry  and  pathos  they  could 
command,  have  told  the  story  and  illumined  the  lives  and 
ways  of  the  early  pioneers.  The  paths  of  the  men  of 
Forty-nine  lie  before  me,  a  beaten  thoroughfare,  a 
harvested  field,  its  golden  grain  long  since  garnered, 
and  to  which  I  come  at  the  eleventh  hour  a  late  and 
loitering  gleaner.  That  a  new  generation  has  arisen 
since  the  event  and  the  era  we  are  celebrating, 
that  there  may  be  those  to  whom  the  story  of 
that  time  may  not  sound  like  a  thrice-told  tale, 
that  to  these  as  new  auditors  this  may  come  with 
any  seeming  of  novelty,  is  an  illusion  by  which, 
however  willing,  I  cannot  deceive  myself;  too  many 


484  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

pens  have  been  busy  with  the  history  of  our  pioneers. 
Harte,  Mulford,  and  a  score  of  others,  with  whatever 
of  imagination  might  most  embellish  fact,  have  told 
to  these  newcomers  far  more  than  the  one  could  ever 
have  known  or  the  other  ever  believed.  Fact  and  fancy 
have  been  alike  exhausted,  and  repeating  with  the  wise 
King  of  Israel  that  there  is  no  new  thing  under  the  sun, 
I  must  bring  forth,  from  a  sparsely  filled  storehouse, 
what  I  know  to  be  old. 

"It  is  over  thirty  years  since  the  report  reached  the 
East  and  flashed  around  the  world  of  the  discovery  of 
gold  in  boundless  quantities  upon  the  banks  of  the 
American  River.  Exaggerated  by  repetition  and  mag- 
nified by  distance,  the  El  Dorado  of  the  Pacific  was 
represented  as  aland  where,  to  any  who  chose  to  gather 
it,  the  fortune  could  be  made  in  a  month  that  elsewhere 
required  the  labor  of  a  lifetime.  Who  does  not  recall 
the  manner  in  which  these  marvelous  reports  were  re- 
ceived, and  discussed  on  every  hand  and  in  every  com- 
munity? Who  has  not  heard  of  the  gatherings  at  the 
village  store,  the  resolve  of  the  restless  and  the  ad- 
venturous, the  reports  each  day  of  new  parties  who  were 
selling  out,  sacrificing  everything  for  the  gold-fields  by 
the  Pacific ;  the  fear  that  it  might  all  be  dug  before  they 
could  reach  the  mines.  How  the  contagion  spread 
until  the  staid  and  contented  felt  an  unwonted  fever 
in  their  veins,  and  looked  restlessly  and  longingly  after 
these  who  were  starting.  Of  the  companies  organized, 
in  which  the  village  Rothschild  shared  in  the  equip- 
ment for  an  interest  of  one-fourth  or  one-half  the  gains 
acquired.  Of  the  thousands  of  machines  invented  and 


THE    PIONEER   HEROES  485 

constructed,  equally  ingenious,  equally  elaborate  and 
alike  worthless,  by  which  gold  mines  were  to  be  found, 
and  worked  when  found.  Of  the  counsels  and  ex- 
hortations of  those  who  stayed  and  the  promises  of  those 
who  went ;  of  the  amount  with  which  each  resolved  to  be 
content,  and  the  exact  time  he  allotted  to  himself  for 
acquiring  it,  and  returning  home.  Of  the  diaries  to  be 
kept,  the  letters  written ;  of  the  notice  in  the  local  paper 
of  each  party  as  it  departed,  with  the  editorial  assur- 
ance that,  whoever  else  might  fail,  such  men  as  that 
village  sent  forth  must  conquer  success  and  make  their 
mark  in  the  world.  Of  the  making  up  of  trains  for  the 
plains,  the  gatherings  of  the  men,  the  trades,  the  pur- 
chases of  equipments,  the  bickerings,  the  misunder- 
standings. Of  the  men  that  every  one  wanted  to  secure 
because  they  were  rough  and  more  accustomed  to  out- 
door life,  and  whose  presence  must  make  the  journey 
successful  and  secure,  and  who  as  a  rule  proved  the 
most  worthless  and  inefficient  vagabonds  in  the  camp. 
Of  the  rotten  ships  that  went  from  Eastern  ports  laden 
with  precious  lives  and  were  heard  of  no  more.  Of  the 
diaries  kept  for  a  few  days  or  weeks  with  scrupulous 
care  and  diligence,  then  the  omission,  first  of  a  day  or 
two,  then  of  longer  intervals,  and  then  wholly  aban- 
doned. Of  the  new  surprises  that  awaited  them  on 
every  hand,  when  the  worn  and  wearied  voyagers  by 
sea  and  by  land  finally  reached  the  end  of  their  jour- 
neyings.  Of  the  reports,  bewildering  in  their  con- 
tradictions, as  to  where  the  best  mines  were  to  be  found; 
of  those  who  paraded  sacks  of  gold  and  lauded  to 
the  skies  Northern  or  Southern  mines,  Mokelumne 


486  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

Hill,  Hangtown,  and  told  of  fortunes  to  be  had  for  the 
picking  them  up;  while  back  from  the  same  place 
came  a  horde,  ragged,  foot-sore  and  hungry,  cursing 
the  State  and  the  day  they  saw  it,  and  especially  the 
localities  thus  loudly  commended.  Of  the  grave  de- 
liberation of  the  newcomer  as  to  whether  he  should 
look  for  coarse  or  fine  gold  diggings,  one  day  yielding 
to  the  fascination  of  a  pile  of  nuggets,  and  resolving  to 
look  for  mines  with  lumps  about  the  size  of  a  hen's  egg, 
wavering  as  he  saw  the  sacks  of  fine  dust  from  the  Yuba, 
and  finally  concluding  that,  as  gold  was  purchased  by 
weight  'and  not  by  bulk,  he  would  take  his  fortune  in  the 
finer  dust;  of  his  journeyings  to  the  mines,  his  failures, 
his  disappointments  and  disgust.  Of  the  letters  home, 
written  at  first  with  methodical  punctuality,  but  finally 
taking  the  road  of  the  abandoned  diary.  Of  the  num- 
berless companies  formed  and  expeditions  planned  to 
find  some  mine  of  marvelous  richness,  of  which  but  one 
man  knew  the  location ;  of  the  senseless  explanation  he 
gave  for  not  having  at  least  a  specimen  of  these  hidden 
treasures,  —  sometimes  Indians,  want  of  provisions, 
or  the  like,  — 1  and  the  uniform  credulity  with  which 
we  swallowed  it  all  and  fitted  out  trains,  and  sent 
parties  with  this  fraud,  only  to  know  we  had  been 
deceived,  and  ending  generally  in  an  unsuccessful  effort 
to  hang  the  deceiver.  Of  adventures  by  the  Yuba,  the 
forks  of  the  American  River,  of  Gold  Bluff  and  Gold 
Lake,  and  the  numberless  golden  mirages  that  danced 
before  the  adventurers  of  those  days  and  lured  them 
on  to  disappointment  and  disaster.  Of  the  much  that 
was  noble  and  grand  and  self-sacrificing,  and  much 


THE    PIONEER   HEROES  487 

too  that  was  wild  and  wicked  and  weird  in  those  men 
and  in  those  fitful,  feverish  times. 

"  We  remember  our  feelings  as  we  left  the  homes  of 
our  nativity  and  fancied  we  could  never  be  contented 
elsewhere,  until,  as  new  interests,  associations  and 
affections  grew  up  around  us,  the  distance  seemed  im- 
perceptibly at  first  to  widen  between  us,  and  when  we 
recalled  the  friends  and  scenes  of  former  days  they 
presented  themselves  with  a  vague,  distant  mistiness, 
almost  as  though  they  were  the  recollections  of  another 
and  not  of  ourselves. 

"  These  are  recollections  common  to  us  all,  the  rem- 
iniscences alike  of  the  wanderer  from  Pike  County, 
Missouri,  Posey  County,  Indiana,  the  native  of  New 
England  and  the  emigrant  from  the  Rhine.  And  to  the 
old  pioneers,  with  these  recollections  of  thirty  years 
pressing  upon  us,  how  feeble  must  appear  any  attempt 
at  portraiture  in  words.  While  I  speak,  like  the  whisper 
that  wakes  a  hundred  sleeping  echoes,  Memory  is 
marshalling  before  each  of  us  the  events  of  his  Cali- 
fornia career.  Like  a  panorama,  the  years  of  our 
pioneer  life  are  passing  in  retrospect  before  us  — •-  the 
kindred  that  we  left  behind;  the  hopes  that  buoyed  us 
up  and  lured  us  onward;  the  fortunes  for  good  or  for 
evil  that  have  befallen  each  and  that  made  up  the  check- 
ered warp  and  woof  of  the  years  that  are  but  a  memory. 
Could  one  but  paint  in  words  this  picture  as  each  now 
beholds  it  for  himself;  could  I  indeed  describe  what  we 
all  feel  and  know,  the  story  of  the  pioneers  could  indeed 
be  told,  their  memories  fittingly  enshrined  for  all  time 
to  come. 


HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

"  This  task,  grateful  though  it  would  be,  is  alike 
beyond  either  the  capacity  I  bring  or  the  time  I  have 
allotted  to  myself  for  these  remarks.  There  is,  however, 
a  feature  of  pioneer  life,  one  class  of  the  great  flood- tide 
that  1849  cast  upon  this  coast,  that  has  been  but  little 
considered.  It  is  a  foible  of  humanity  ever  to  worship 
at  the  shrine  of  success,  and  to  follow  with  blind  lauda- 
tions the  favorites  of  fortune;  the  unsuccessful,  equally 
or  more  deserving  though  they  may  be,  find  little  place 
either  in  the  memories  of  men  or  the  chronicles  of  his- 
tory. The  stories  of  the  pioneers  are  no  exception  to 
this  rule.  The  successes  and  the  achievements  of  the 
few  are  blazoned  to  the  world;  of  the  many  who  fought 
and  fell  in  the  vanguard  of  our  heroes  in  the  battle 
of  life,  the  story  of  their  struggle  ended  with  them. 

"  Who  does  not  recall,  in  the  adventures  of  the  early 
days,  the  thousands  that,  smitten  by  disease,  essayed 
the  voyage  round  the  Cape,  the  perils  of  the  plains, 
with  the  cry  '  Health  or  a  speedy  grave.'  To  not  one 
in  a  score  of  these  came  the  coveted  boon  of  health. 
Their  resting-places  mark  the  pathway  of  our  empire 
from  the  banks  of  the  Mississippi  to  the  shores  of  the 
Pacific,  and  until  the  sea  shall  give  up  her  dead  none 
may  know  of  those  pioneer  hosts  that  found  their 
resting-places  in  the  dark  depths  of  the  ocean.  Suffer- 
ing and  disease  were  their  companions  as  they  journeyed 
hither.  Pestilence  and  hardship  welcomed  their  ar- 
rival. By  the  rivers  whose  golden  sands  had  lured  them 
from  peaceful  homes  and  loving  friends,  they  fell  by 
thousands,  unknown  and  unremembered. 

"  Who  does  not  remember,  in  his  own  camp,  or  that  of 


THE    PIONEER   HEROES  489 

his  neighbor,  the  delicate  boy,  the  pet  of  the  company, 
wholly  unfitted  for  the  hardships  of  the  mines,  but  am- 
bitious and  hopeful,  scorning  the  thought  that  he  was 
not  equal  to  any  exertion  and  every  position,  bearing  his 
part  in  the  rugged  work  of  his  comrades,  and  pretending 
not  to  feel  that  day  by  day  his  powers  were  wasting 
away ;  the  gentle  strategy  which  gave  to  the  failing  boy 
the  easiest  of  the  labors  of  the  camp;  and,  finally,  the 
kindly  counsel  and  the  generous  aid  that  returned  him 
to  die  amid  the  scenes  of  his  youth  and  the  friends  of  his 
childhood  ? 

"  Who  among  the  miners  of  those  days  has  not  scores 
upon  scores  of  times  given  prodigally  that  some  one, 
a  stranger,  perchance,  whom  he  had  never  seen,  might 
close  his  eyes  in  his  old  distant  home?  We  are  told 
that  by  such  deeds  treasures  are  laid  up  in  heaven.  If 
this  be  so,  many  a  noble  pioneer  has  the  fortune  awaiting 
him  in  the  hereafter  that  was  denied  him  here. 

"  Then  there  was  one  who  delayed  his  going  till 
disease  pressed  so  fiercely  upon  him  that  the  journey 
could  not  be  made,  and  he  knew  that  he  must  die 
amid  strangers  in  a  strange  land.  What  feature  of 
pioneer  life  presents  more  noble  characteristics  than  the 
cabin  of  the  sick  and  dying  miner?  Brave  and  un- 
complaining was  the  sufferer,  kind  and  gentle  his 
watchers.  When  the  last  letters  were  dictated  to  loved 
ones,  the  last  directions  given,  as  he  looked  upon  the 
familiar  faces,  while  the  shadows  darkened  about  him, 
there  came  to  these,  his  tried  and  faithful  comrades, 
his  last  words  —  they  were  the  last  utterances  of 
thousands  — '  I  am  going,  boys.  You  have  been  very 


490  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

kind  to  me.  God  bless  you  all.'  '  God  bless  you,  old 
boy,'  would  be  the  sobbing  response,  the  last  whispered 
benediction  to  the  ear  of  the  dying  man.  And  then, 
beneath  some  lordly  oak  or  stately  pine,  they  fashioned 
his  grave,  and  upon  a  rough  board,  or  a  fragment  of 
stone,  they  scrawled  his  name  and  the  place  of  his  birth 
and  the  day  of  his  death,  and  placed  it  above  —  and  the 
pioneer's  history  was  ended.  All  over  the  world  there 
are  thousands  of  loving,  hoping  hearts  that  have  waited 
through  all  these  long  and  weary  years  for  the  coming 
of  these  slumberers  by  the  rivers,  these  dead  of  our 
early  pioneers.  Green  be  their  memories  and  peace  to 
their  ashes,  these  our  brothers  gone  before  us. 

"  Another  and  a  more  numerous  class  are  those  who 
have  failed  of  success,  and  are  counted  among  the 
fallen  in  the  battle  of  life.  They  are  that  class  upon 
whose  every  effort  some  malign  influence  ever  casts 
a  blight.  Energetic  and  industrious,  possessed  of  every 
quality  that  should  command  and  does  merit  success, 
their  pathway  is  one  of  unbroken  disaster  and  mis- 
fortune. Born  to  disaster,  flood  and  fire,  casualties  of 
every  form  make  these  hapless  ones  their  sport.  Un- 
lucky the  world  terms  them,  and  if  by  this  is  meant 
Fortune  that  only  sees  that  she  may  smite,  the  term  is 
well  applied.  Nowhere  was  this  class  more  largely 
represented  than  in  the  mining  regions  and  in  the  days 
of  1850.  We  can  to-day,  each  of  us,  recall,  perhaps, 
some  of  us  in  our  own  experiences,  the  fields  and  the 
efforts  of  these  hapless  adventurers.  Such  we  have  seen 
locate  a  mining  claim,  where  upon  either  hand  fortunes 
had  been  found,  and  every  indication  that  human 


THE   PIONEER   HEROES  491 

judgment  or  foresight  could  suggest  showed  that  the 
same  was  before  them.  We  have  seen  them  enter  with 
strong  hands  and  buoyant  hopes  upon  a  work  that  may 
well-nigh  task  the  patience  and  the  resource  of  a  State. 
We  have  seen  the  tunnel  that  was  to  unlock  their 
golden  treasure  driven  year  after  year,  for  hundreds 
and  thousands  of  feet,  through  the  flinty  rock,  steadily, 
persistently  and  untiringly;  against  obstacles  and 
embarrassments  that  might  well  have  brought  hopeless 
discouragement,  they  struggled  on,  and  at  last,  prema- 
turely aged  with  the  labors  and  hardships  of  this  toil, 
with  the  best  years  of  their  lives  gone,  maimed  and 
crippled  by  the  casualties  of  their  enterprise,  financially 
beggared,  they  learned  that  there  was  nothing  before 
them,  that  their  work  was  worthless,  their  lives  wasted, 
and,  broken  alike  in  body  and  in  mind,  they  must  seek 
elsewhere  new  fields  for  toil,  must  begin  again  the 
battle  of  life. 

"  What  wonder  that  when  long  years  of  such  exertion 
bring  to  the  toiler  but  Dead  Sea  apples,  bitterness  and 
ashes,  when  he  sees  upon  every  hand  wealth  that  recom- 
penses efforts  but  a  tithe  of  his  own  —  what  wonder 
that  in  bitterness  of  heart  he  arraigns  the  Providence 
that  permits  all  this;  that  he  looks  with  scorn  and  loath- 
ing on  a  world  where  Fortune  proves  thus  partial  and 
unkind;  what  wonder  that  among  the  many  that  have 
met  but  successive  misfortunes  and  unbroken  adversity, 
there  should  be  many  discouraged,  misanthropic  and 
reckless  men.  And  when  I  see  one  of  these  worn  and 
broken  men  still  clinging  to  the  scene  of  his  former 
labors,  if  much  of  the  manhood  and  nobleness  of  his 


492  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

early  years  seems  lost  or  obscured,  I  reflect  what  hopes, 
what  purposes,  what  affections  may  not  have  been  in 
him  crushed  out  in  these  withering  disappointments, 
and,  in  the  language  of  the  Master,  I  say  that  to  him 
that  has  suffered  much,  much  should  be  forgiven. 

"  I  have  spoken  of  the  pioneers  of  thirty  years  ago, 
for  it  is  their  advent  to  this  coast  we  to-day  commem- 
orate; of  the  miners  and  the  mountains,  for  it  was 
there  my  o\vn  early  associations  were  had.  Of  the 
pioneers  in  the  valleys  and  the  builders  of  the  cities, 
we  only  know  that  they  shared  fully  the  measure  of 
disappointment  that  befell  their  brothers  in  the  mines. 
Where  to-day  are  the  cities  and  their  founders  that  in 
1850  lined  the  Bay  of  San  Francisco  —  paper  creations 
that  were  to  rival  London  in  magnitude,  Paris  in  beauty, 
and  New  York  in  growth  and  prosperity  ?  Who  to-day 
can  recall  the  name  of  either  town  or  founder  of  these 
cities?  What  hopes  and  expectations  vanished  with 
them  we  may  never  know,  for  their  projectors  have 
disappeared  as  completely  as  the  builders  of  the  mounds 
in  the  valleys  of  the  West. 

"  I  have  spoken  thus  far  of  the  failures  and  misfor- 
tunes of  these  former  times.  The  successes  have  been 
many,  and  have  been  marked.  They  are  known  and 
need  not  be  repeated.  The  spirit  of  the  old  Argonauts 
still  survives.  Bold,  fearless  explorers,  they  are  still 
searching  for  the  golden  fleece.  From  California  to 
the  frozen  zone,  not  a  river,  a  stream,  or  a  mountain 
that  has  not  been  tested  and  tried  by  these  hardy 
adventurers.  And  the  deserts  of  Arizona  and  New 
Mexico  equally  attest  their  energy  and  enterprise. 


THE   PIONEER   HEROES  493 

Nor  do  the  boundaries  of  the  nation  place  any  barrier 
to  their  progress;  they  are  pouring  in  a  resistless  flood 
upon  the  land  of  the  Aztec,  and  Mexico  wakes  from  the 
slumber  of  centuries  at  the  trampling  of  our  peaceful 
cohorts. 

"  The  pioneer  adventures  of  to-day  will  be  the  success- 
ful enterprises  of  the  future,  and  the  golden  fleece 
that  could  not  be  won  in  the  mountains  will  be  found 
in  our  teeming  valleys,  our  vine-garlanded  hillsides. 
Wherever  enterprise  or  inclination  may  guide  their  steps, 
the  hope  and  the  benediction  that  accompanied  us  to 
this  new  land  go  forth  with  them.  And  if,  like  many  of 
us,  they  shall  fall  or  shall  fail  in  the  field  that  is  before 
them,  may  they  ever  merit  success  though  they  find 
but  adversity. 

"  Pioneers  of  1849,  m  tne  thirty  years  of  our  Cali- 
fornia life,  much  of  the  time  allotted  to  man  has  passed 
away.  For  many  of  us  the  shadows  are  to-day  length- 
ening eastward.  The  crest  on  the  waves  of  a  sea  that 
beats  in  ceaseless  cadence  on  the  shores  of  Time  each 
year  sees  many  known  and  honored  among  us  swept  into 
the  still  depths  of  the  hereafter.  Ours  be  it  to  know 
that,  whether  remembered  or  forgotten,  the  work  of 
our  hands  shall  outlive  the  names  of  its  founders,  and 
that  the  empire  we  leave  behind  us,  the  nation's  bul- 
wark by  her  western  sea,  shall  endure  for  all  time,  the 
handiwork  and  the  monument  of  the  Pioneers  of  the 
Golden  State." 


CHAPTER  XLIH 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

THE  foregoing  chapters  have  been  gleaned  during 
a  careful  study  of  California  literature  extending 
over  the  past  thirty  years.  Many  of  the  later  chapters 
are  the  result  of  personal  intercourse  with  the  heroes 
named.  Hence  it  is  impossible,  in  every  case,  to  give 
original  sources.  The  following  list,  however,  will 
be  an  excellent  starting-point  for  those  who  wish  to 
study  these  men  and  women  of  California's  nobility. 

At  the  outset  it  may  generally  be  stated  that  the  his- 
tories of  Hubert  Howe  Bancroft  can  be  consulted,  with 
advantage,  on  all  the  earlier  chapters  of  this  book. 

Poolers  Index  will  also  suggest  many  interesting 
magazine  articles  to  those  who  wish  to  study  the  subjects 
further  in  a  general  way.  Every  high  school  student 
should  be  made  familiar  with  P cole's  Index  to  Periodical 
Literature  and  the  great  uses  to  which  it  can  be  put. 
Every  good  library  is  provided  with  it,  and  students  will 
find  it  of  incalculable  help. 

Chapter  I.  Alargon.  The  original  story  of  Alarcon's 
journey  up  the  Colorado  River  may  be  read  in  Hak- 
luyt's  Voyages.  In  Stories  of  Adventure,  by  Edward 
Everett  Hale  (Little,  Brown,  and  Co.),  on  page  102, 
explanation  is  given  of  the  origin  of  the  name  "  Cali- 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  495 

fornia,"  but  it  should  not  be  forgotten  that  the  reference 
there  is  to  the  peninsula  which  Ulloa  had  discovered, 
and  not  to  the  State  we  to-day  know  as  one  of  the  United 
States.  Hubert  Howe  Bancroft,  in  Volume  I  of  History 
of  California  (Volume  XVIII  of  Works),  gives  a  chapter 
on  "  The  Discovery  of  California  "  and  the  origin  of  the 
name,  pages  64-109.  The  Romance  0}  the  Colorado 
River,  by  F.  S.  Dellenbaugh  (Putnam's),  contains  two 
good  chapters  on  Ulloa  and  Alarcon,  and  the  title  of 
the  book  is  no  misnomer  for  the  rest  of  the  contents. 

Chapter  II.  Melchior  Diaz.  The  vast  story  of 
Coronado's  expedition  is  to  be  found  in  the  original 
historian's  narrative:  Account  of  the  Expedition  to 
Cibola  which  look  place  in  the  year  1540,  in  which  all 
those  settlements,  their  ceremonies  and  customs,  are 
described.  Written  by  Pedro  de  Castaneda,  of  Najera. 
The  original  is  translated,  with  notes  and  an  illumina- 
tive introduction,  by  George  Parker  Winship,  in  Part  I, 
Fourteenth  Annual  Report  of  the  Bureau  of  Ethnology 
(1892-93). 

There  is  also  a  chapter  in  Stories  of  Adventure,  by 
Edward  Everett  Hale,  on  Fra  Marco  and  Coronado's 
expedition. 

Chapter  III.  Junipero  Serra.  Palou's  Life  of  Serra 
has  been  poorly  and  partially  rendered  into  English 
by  Father  Adam.  This,  however,  is  out  of  print  and 
hard  to  obtain.  If  enough  schools  and  others  would  ask 
for  its  translation  and  publication,  it  could  be  speedily 
done  in  a  satisfactory  manner.  Charles  F.  Lummis 
in  Volume  16  of  Out  West  publishes  his  translation 
of  Serra's  hitherto  unpublished  Diary  of  Serra's  trip 


496  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

from  Loreto  to  San  Diego,  March  28 —  June  30,  1769. 
Missions  and  Missionaries  o]  California,  by  Zephyrin 
Englehardt,  the  official  historian  of  the  Franciscans  in 
California,  is  an  excellent  work.  It  may  be  obtained  by 
writing  Father  Englehardt  at  Watsonville,  California, 
or  at  any  Franciscan  establishment  in  the  State.  In 
my  own  In  and  Out  o]  the  Old  Missions  of  California 
(Little,  Brown,  and  Co.)  there  is  much  of  Serra  and  his 
work,  and  Bancroft's  Histories  contain  more. 

Chapter  IV.  Juan  Bautista  de  Anza.  The  best 
account  of  the  heroic  captain's  exploits  is  found  in 
On  the  Trail  of  a  Spanish  Pioneer,  Garces1  Diary,  1775, 
1776.  Translated  by  Elliott  Coues  and  published  by 
Francis  P.  Harper,  New  York,  1900. 

Chapter  V.  Padre  Sarria.  Bancroft's  Histories,  and 
Shea's  History  of  the  Catholic  Missions  among  the 
Indian  Tribes  of  the  United  States,  1529-1854. 

Chapter  VI.  Pattie.  The  Personal  Narrative  of 
James  O.  Pattie  of  Kentucky.  Reprinted  in  1905,  in 
Early  Western  Travels,  by  A.  H.  Clark  Co.,  Cleveland. 

Chapter  VII.    J.  S.  Smith.    Bancroft's  Histories. 

Chapter  VIII.  John  Bidwell.  A  Journey  to  Cali- 
fornia, being  Bidwell's  diary  of  the  trip  across  to  Cali- 
fornia, May  1 8  to  November  6,  1841.  John  Bidwell, 
by  C.  C.  Royce,  Chico,  California,  1906.  Articles  by 
Bidwell  in  The  Century  Magazine  on  "  The  First 
Emigrant  Train  to  California"  (November,  1890); 
"  Life  in  California  before  the  Gold  Discovery " 
(December,  1890);  "  Fremont  in  the  Conquest  of 
California  "  (February,  1891). 

Chapter   IX.     Charles   T.   Stanton.     McGlashan's 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  497 

History  of  the  Donner  Party  (A.  L.  Bancroft,  San  Fran- 
cisco, 1881).  This  is  the  most  reliable  account  of  this 
party  yet  written.  Mrs.  Houghton,  George  Donner's 
daughter,  is  now  writing  her  story,  and  she  is  expending 
great  care  upon  it. 

Chapter  X.  Virginia  Reed.  McGlashan's  Donner 
Party  (as  above)  and  "  Across  the  Plains  in  the  Donner 
Party  "  in  Century  Magazine  (July,  1891),  by  Virginia 
Reed  Murphy.  I  also  have  in  preparation  the  Story  of 
Virginia  Reed  Murphy,  which  I  hope  to  publish  in 
1911-12. 

Chapter  XI.  Manly  and  Rogers.  Death  Valley  in 
'49,  by  W.  L.  Manly.  Now  out  of  print.  I  can  supply 
copies,  however,  so  long  as  they  last,  for  $1.75  each. 

Chapter  XII.  Many  fugitive  newspaper  articles 
have  been  written  on  the  subject  of  this  chapter.  See 
also  Bancroft,  and  Illustrated  Sketches  of  Death  Valley, 
by  John  R.  Spears  (Rand,  McNally  and  Co.,  Chicago, 
1892). 

Chapter  XIII.  Carson  and  Beale.  There  are  several 
"  Lives  "  of  Kit  Carson.  A  good  one  is  by  Mrs.  Jessie 
Benton  Fremont.  The  one  I  have  used  is  Kit  Carson's 
Life  and  Adventures,  by  Col.  D.  C.  Peters  (Dustin, 
Gilman  and  Co.,  Hartford,  1874).  Poolers  Index  will 
also  give  many  references  to  the  great  scout. 

Chapter  XIV.  Consult  Poolers  Index  and  books  on 
pioneer  times. 

Chapter  XV.  J.  P.  Beckwourth.  In  1854,  1855,  T. 
D.  Bonner  visited  Beckwourth  in  California  and  there 
wrote,  from  his  own  dictation:  The  Life  and  Adven- 
tures 6}  James  P.  Beckwourth,  Mountaineer,  Scout, 


498  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

Pioneer,  and  Chief  of  the  Crow  Nation  oj  Indians. 
Charles  G.  Leland  edited  this  for  T.  Fisher  Unwin 
(London,  1892),  and  this  English  edition  is  the  one  that 
I  have  used. 

Chapter  XVI.  The  Pony  Express  and  Overland  Stage 
Lines.  Bancroft's,  HittelPs  and  other  California  his- 
tories, and  numerous  magazine  articles  (consult  Poole), 
will  give  a  much  larger  conception  of  these  great  under- 
takings than  I  have  given  in  this  brief  chapter.  In- 
man's  Santa  Fe  Trail,  and  Seventy  Years  on  the  Fron- 
tier, by  Alexander  Majors  (Rand,  McNally  and  Co., 
1893).  There  are  also  two  excellent  articles  entitled 
"  Knights  of  the  Lash,"  by  Major  Ben  C.  Truman,  in 
Overland  Monthly  (March  and  April,  1898),  and  two 
others  entitled  "  Overland  Staging  on  the  Thirty- 
second  Parallel  Route  in  the  Fifties,"  by  Jesse  Edward 
Thompson,  in  Overland  (August  and  September, 
1888).  I  do  not  know  of  anything  hi  American 
literature  that  gives  so  graphic,  vivid  and  truthful  a 
description  of  the  overland  stage  as  does  Mark  Twain 
in  Roughing  It.  (Harpers  &  Bros.,  New  York). 

Chapter  XVII.  William  Taylor.  The  three  follow- 
ing works  are  all  written  by  Bishop  Taylor:  Story  of 
My  Life  (Hunt  and  Eaton,  New  York,  1895),  California 
Life  Illustrated  (New  York,  1858)  and  Seven  Years' 
Street  Preaching  in  San  Francisco  (New  York,  1857). 

Chapter  XVIII.  James  King  of  William.  Bancroft's 
and  Hitt ell's  Histories,  and  Representative  and  Leading 
Men  of  the  Pacific,  by  Oscar  T.  Shuck  (Bacon  and  Co., 
San  Francisco,  1870). 

Chapter  XIX.     Thomas  Starr  King'.     See  'Poole's 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  499 

Index  for  magazine  articles,  Shuck's  Representative 
Men  (see  above),  A  Tribute  to  Thomas  Starr  King,  by 
R.  Frothingham  (Ticknor  and  Fields,  Boston,  1865), 
and  Memoir  of  King  by  Edwin  P.  Whipple  in  Chris- 
tianity and  Humanity  (Houghton,  Mifflin  and  Co., 
Boston,  1897).  There  is  also  an  interesting  reference 
to  King  and  Bret  Harte  in  Overland  Monthly. 

Chapter  XX.  James  Capen  Adams.  The  Adven- 
tures of  James  Capen  Adams,  Mountaineer  and  Grizzly 
Bear  Hunter  of  California,  by  Theodore  H.  Hittell, 
1861.  In  July,  1910,  Mr.  Hittell  writes  me  that  C. 
Scribner's  Sons  (New  York)  are  preparing  to  issue  a 
new  edition  of  this  most  interesting  and  romantic 
book. 

Chapter  XXI.  Snow-Shoe  Thompson.  See  Dan  de 
Quille's  article  hi  Overland  Monthly  (February,  1881), 
from  which  all  the  quotations  of  the  chapter  are 
made. 

Chapter  XXII.  Clarence  King  and  Richard  Cotter. 
Mountaineering  in  the  Sierra  Nevada,  by  Clarence  King 
(C.  Scribner's  Sons,  New  York). 

Chapter  XXIII.  Theodore  D.  Judah.  The  Reports 
of  Legislative  Proceedings  in  the  California  Legislature, 
and  Theodore  H.  Hittell 's  History  of  California. 

Chapter  XXIV.  The  Builders  of  the  Central  Pacific 
Ry.  HittelPs  and  Bancroft's  Histories.  Also  see  Poolers 
Index  for  many  fugitive  articles,  and  The  Iron  Way,  by 
Sarah  Pratt  Carr  (A.  C.  McClurg  and  Co.,  Chicago, 
1907). 

Chapter  XXV.  Stephen  J.  Field.  The  California 
Law  Reports  contain  Judge  Field's  Decisions.  My 


500  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 

chief  work  of  reference  was  Judge  Pomeroy's  Some 
Account  of  the  Work  oj  Stephen  J.  Field,  published 
privately  in  1881. 

Chapter  XXVI.  James  Lick.  Bancroft's  and  Hit- 
tell's  Histories.  Consult  Poolers  Index  for  magazine 
articles,  especially  those  in  Overland  Monthly.  E.  S. 
Holden's  Handbook  to  the  Lick  Observatory. 

Chapter  XXVII.  Adolph  Sutro.  The  Mineral  Re- 
sources oj  the  United  States,  and  the  Importance  and 
Necessity  of  Inaugurating  a  Rational  System  of  Mining 
with  Especial  Reference  to  the  Comstock  Lode  and  the 
Sutro  Tunnel  in  Nevada  (Baltimore,  John  Murphy 
and  Co.,  1868).  Report  of  the  Commissioners  and  Evi- 
dence, etc.  (Washington,  1872). 

Chapter  XXVIII.  J.  W.  North.  Consult  Poole's 
Index  for  articles  on  Riverside. 

Chapter  XXIX.  J.  W.  Powell.  Report  of  the  Sec- 
ond Irrigation  Congress,  held  in  Los  Angeles.  Report 
of  the  Land  of  the  Arid  Regions  of  the  United  States, 
by  J.  W.  Powell  (Washington,  1879);  Also,  as 
evidences  of  Powell's  great  work  for  science  and 
humanity,  see  Reports  of  United  States  Geological 
Survey,  and  Reports  of  Bureau  of  American  Ethnology. 

Chapter  XXX.  A.  S.  Hallidie.  Consult  Poole's 
Index. 

Chapter  XXXI.  John  Gill  Lemmon  and  Sara  P. 
Lemmon.  Overland  Monthly  (April  and  May,  1883, 
and  September,  1888);  California  State  Forester's 
Reports,  1886-1889. 

Chapter  XXXII.  John  Muir.  Consult  Poole's 
Index,  The  Mountains  of  California,  by  John  Muir 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  501 

(N.  Y.  1894,  The  Century  Co.),  Our  National  Parks, 
Stickeen,  The  Story  of  a  Dog,  The  Outlook  (June  6, 

1903)- 

Chapter  XXXIII.  Helen  Hunt  Jackson.  Consult 
Poolers  Index.  Mrs.  Jackson's  three  books  dealing 
with  Indians  are:  A  Century  of  Dishonor,  Ramona, 
and  Glimpses  of  California  and  the  Missions,  all  by 
Little,  Brown,  and  Co.,  Boston.  Also  see  Through 
Ramona' s  Country,  by  George  Wharton  James  (Little, 
Brown,  and  Co.). 

Chapter  XXXIV.  H.  H.  Bancroft.  See  his  His- 
lories  and  especially  his  Literary  Industries  (Harper's, 
1891). 

Chapter  XXXV.  Luther  Burbank.  Consult  Poole's 
Index.  New  Creations  in  Plant  Life,  by  W.  S.  Harwood 
(MacMillan's,  .1905),  is  the  story  of  Burbank's  life 
and  work,  intelligently  and  sympathetically  told. 

Chapter  XXXVI.  Henry  George.  Progress  and 
Poverty,  by  Henry  George,  Life  of  Henry  George,  by 
Henry  George,  Jr.  Also  consult  Poole's  Index.  All 
of  Henry  George's  Works  (Doubleday,  Page  &  Co.). 

Chapter  XXXVII.  T.  S.  C.  Lowe.  Harper's  Weekly 
and  Leslie's  Weekly  during  war  times.  Consult  Poole's 
Index,  and  Scenic  Mount  Lowe,  by  George  Wharton 
James. 

Chapter  XXXVIII.  Wozencraft,  Rockwood  and  Chaf- 
fey.  The  Wonders  of  the  Colorado  Desert,  George 
Wharton  James  (Little,  Brown,  and  Co.).  Local 
newspapers  from  1900. 

Chapter  XXXIX.  Edwin  Markham.  Consult  Poole's 
Index,  The  Man  with  the  Hoe  and  other  Poems,  and 


502 

Lincoln  and  other  Poems,  by  Edwin  Markham  (Mc- 
Clure's,  New  York). 

Chapter  XL.  Stephen  M.  White.  Stephen  M. 
White,  by  L.  E.  Mosher  and  R.  W.  Gates,  2  volumes 
(Times  Mirror  Co.,  Los  Angeles,  1903). 

Chapter  XLI.  William  E.  Smythe.  Read  articles 
by  W.  E.  Smythe  in  Out  West;  also  Irrigation  Age, 
which  he  founded  and  edited.  Consult  Poolers  Index. 
Also  The  Conquest  of  Arid  America,  Constructive  De- 
mocracy, both  by  W.  E.  Smythe  (MacMillan). 

Chapter  XLII.  Judge  David  Belden.  Life  of 
David  Belden  (Belden  Bros.,  New  York,  1891). 


INDEX 


INDEX 


ADAMS,  James  Capen,  hunting 
instincts  condemned,  xii ;  a 
picturesque  figure,  180;  life 
by  Hittell,  180;  birth  of,  180; 
attacked  by  tiger,  180;  ar- 
rival in  California,  181 ; 
takes  to  wilderness,  181 ;  de- 
scribes grizzly  bear,  181 ;  his 
camp,  183;  an  early  experi- 
ence, 184;  thrilling  adven- 
tures, 186-192;  companion 
killed,  192;  adventure  in  the 
Yosemite,  192,  193;  settles 
down,  194. 

Alargon,  Hernando  de,  sent  by 
Mendoza  to  cooperate  with 
Coronado,  2 ;  discovers  and 
explores  Colorado  River,  3; 
cautious  and  determined,  3. 

Annals  of  San  Francisco,  quo- 
tation from,  138-139. 

Anza,  Juan  Bautista  de,  in 
command  at  Tubac,  17;  to 
establish  road  to  Upper  Cal- 
ifornia, 17;  attacked  by 
Apaches,  17;  dangers  sur- 
rounding, 18;  crosses  desert, 
18,  19;  party  divided,  19; 
reaches  Monterey,  19;  re- 
turns to  Tubac,  19;  to  estab- 
lish settlement  on  San  Fran- 
cisco Bay,  20;  promotion  of, 
20;  his  party,  20;  Garces' 
diary  of  expedition,  20,  21, 
suffering  of  party,  22; 
reaches  San  Gabriel,  22 ;  goes 
to  San  Diego,  22 ;  resumes 
journey  north,  22;  arrives  at 
Monterey,  22;  illness  of,  23; 
arrives  at  San  Francisco,  23 ; 
returns  to  Sonora,  23. 


Apache  Indians,  attack  de 
Anza's  party,  17. 

Army  of  the  West,  94,  engage- 
ment with  Mexicans,  96;  in 
great  danger,  99;  relieved  by 
Stockton,  103. 

Ashley,  Gen.  W.  H.,  engages 
Jedediah  Smith  as  one  of 
band  of  trappers,  40;  estab- 
lishes post  near  Salt  Lake, 
40. 

Aubery,  F.  X.,  Pony  Express 
rider,  132;  remarkable  ride 
of,  133- 

Austin,  Mary,  pictures  of  old 
Mission  life  in  Isidro,  24. 

B 

BAILEY,  James,  elected  first 
secretary  of  Central  Pacific 
R.  R.  Co.,  226. 

Baker,  Ray  Stannard,  article  on 
John  Muir,  338. 

Bancroft,  Hubert  Howe,  the 
collecting  of  material  for  his- 
tory, 376;  his  birth,  377;  set- 
tles in  California,  378;  the 
beginning  of  his  library,  378, 
379 ;  its  growth,  380,  381 ;  re- 
verses, 383 ;  the  work  com- 
pleted, 384. 

Beale,  Lieutenant,  carries  des- 
patches to  Kearny,  96;  vol- 
unteers with  Carson  to  go 
for  aid,  99;  gets  through 
Mexican  lines,  101 ;  reaches 
San  Diego,  102;  illness  of, 
103. 

Beatty,  John  C,  promotes  plan 
to  reclaim  the  Colorado  Des- 
ert, 440;  abandons  scheme, 
441. 


506 


INDEX 


Beckwourth,  James  P.,  methods 
condemned,  xii ;  Leland's 
Life  of,  109;  encounter  with 
grizzly  bear,  no;  birth  of, 
no;  Bonner's  story  of,  no; 
Ina  Coolbrith's  story  of,  in  ; 
her  impressions  of  him,  112; 
discovers  murder  of  Reed 
family,  113;  trails  murderers, 
114;  captures  them,  114; 
story  of  murder,  114;  exe- 
cutes murderers,  114;  hatred 
of  liquor  traffic  with  Indians, 
116;  discovery  of  Beck- 
wourth's  Pass,  117,  118;  de- 
scription of  country,  118; 
plans  for  building  road,  119; 
construction  begun,  120;  ill- 
ness of,  120;  recovery,  121; 
leads  first  train  through 
Pass,  121 ;  his  losses  by  ven- 
ture, 121 ;  chief  of  trading- 
post,  122. 

Belden,  David,  sketch  of,  482; 
address  on  Pioneer  Heroes 
of  California,  483-493. 

Bibliography,  494-502. 

Bidwell.  John,  settles  on  Ran- 
cho  Chico,  45;  birth  of,  45; 
walks  to  Cincinnati,  45 ;  ad- 
venturous disposition,  46 ; 
settles  on  Platte  Purchase, 
46;  teaches  school,  46;  his 
claim  "jumped,"  47;  joins 
Robidoux's  party,  47 ;  secures 
outfit,  47 ;  the  party  strength- 
ened, 48;  his  journal,  48,  52; 
fear  of  Indians,  48;  party 
divided,  49;  difficulties  of 
road,  50;  reaches  California, 
51 ;  assistant  to  Captain  Sut- 
ter,  52 ;  dismantles  Fort  Ross, 
52;  in  Sacramento  Valley, 
52 ;  makes  map,  53 ;  becomes 
a  Mexican  citizen,  53;  joins 
movement  for  independence, 
53;  C.  C.  Royce's  account  of, 
53;  appointed  alcade  by  Fre- 


mont, 53 ;  carries  news  of 
discovery  of  gold,  53;  his 
work  for  Statehood,  54;  his 
politics,  54;  efficient  service 
during  Civil  War,  54;  Pro- 
hibition candidate  for  Presi- 
dent, 55  ;  his  treatment  of  the 
Indians,  55;  his  death,  55. 

"  Big  Four "  (Huntington, 
Stanford, Crocker,  Hopkins), 
methods  often  condemned, 
xii ;  Judah  attracts  attention 
of,  225 ;  their  various  call- 
ings, 225 ;  subscriptions  to 
stock,  226. 

Bonner,  T.  D.,  Life  of  James 
P+Beckwourth,  no. 

Books  Recommended,  vi,  vii. 

Boothe,  C.  B.,  works  for  irri- 
gation, 473. 

"  Boston,"  rider  on  first  Pony 
Express  Route,  127. 

Burbank,  Luther,  his  birth, 
385;  settles  in  California, 
385;  early  life,  386;  illness, 
386 ;  disappointments,  387 ; 
characteristics,  387-389;  a 
large  order  and  a  daring  ex- 
periment, 391,  392;  his  sys- 
tem of  selection,  392-394;  his 
integrity,  395 ;  experimental 
work,  396;  recognition  of  its 
value,  396;  opinion  of  by 
Jordan,  397;  his  influence  on 
the  popular  mind,  398,  399; 
work  for  humanity,  400. 

Burnett,  Peter  H.,  elected  first 
Governor  of  California,  124. 


CALIFORNIA,  History  of,  books 

bearing  on,  vi,  vii. 
Carr,    Sarah    Pratt,    quotations 

from,  231,  236. 
Carson,  Kit,  on  way  east  with 

Fremont's     despatches,     94; 

turns    back    with    Kearny's 


INDEX 


5°  7 


Army  of  the  West,  94;  vol- 
unteers with  Beale  to  go  for 
aid,  99;  gets  through  Mexi- 
can lines,  101 ;  reaches  San 
Diego,  102. 

Casey,  James  P,.  duel  with 
Bagley,  167;  attacked  in 
Bulletin  by  King,  167;  alter- 
cation with  King,  168;  mur- 
ders King,  168;  Vigilance 
Committee  recalled,  168 ; 
taken  from  jail,  169;  trial  of, 
by  Committee,  169;  execu- 
tion of,  170. 

Castaneda,  account  of  Diaz's 
adventures,  4,  5. 

Central  Pacific  Railroad  Co., 
conceived  and  organized  by 
Judah,  221 ;  convention  for 
organization,  224;  first  at- 
tempt fails,  224;  magnitude 
of  task,  225 ;  organization 
perfected,  226;  national  aid 
granted,  227;  work  begun, 
228;  connected  with  Union 
Pacific,  231 ;  difficulties  of 
building,  232;  opposition  to, 
237;  finances  improve,  238; 
obstacles  to  construction, 
240 ;  Chinese  labor  on,  241 ; 
Sierras  crossed,  241 ;  pay- 
ment for  completed  road, 
241 ;  rivalry  with  Union 
Pacific,  242;  the  last  spike, 

243- 

Chaffey,  George,  settles  in  Cali- 
fornia, 441 ;  developes  water 
system  at  Etiwanda  and  On- 
tario, 442;  developes  the 
mutual-company  idea,  442, 
443;  electric  lighting,  443; 
Ontario  a  "model  colony," 
444;  Australian  work.  444, 
445;  return  to  California, 
445 ;  appealed  to  by  Rock- 
wood,  446;  takes  up  plan  to 
reclaim  Colorado  Desert, 
446;  difficulties  and  litiga- 


tion, 446-449;  Imperial  Val- 
ley, 449;  prosperity  due  to 
him,  450. 

Chaffey,  W.  B.,  constructs 
water  system  at  Etiwanda 
and  Ontario,  442;  Australian 
work,  444,  445;  return  to 
California,  445 ;  appealed  to 
by  Rockwood,  446;  takes  up 
plan  to  reclaim  Colorado 
Desert,  446. 

Chittenden,  Hiram  M.,  Reser- 
voirs in  the  Arid  Region, 
472. 

Coolbrith,  Ina,  meeting  with 
Beckwourth,  in;  her  im- 
pressions of  him,  112. 

Cora,  Charles,  kills  Wm.  H. 
Richardson,  166;  trial  de- 
manded by  King,  166;  trial 
of,  166;  disagreement  of 
jury,  167;  taken  from  jail  by 
Vigilantes,  169;  trial  of,  by 
Committee,  169 ;  execution 
of,  170. 

Coronado.    See  Vasquez. 

Cortes,  Hernando,  ambitious  to 
extend  his  power,  I ;  ap- 
points Ulloa  to  command 
expedition  of  discovery, 
i. 

Cotter,  Richard,  joins  Clarence 
King  in  mountaineering  trip, 
209;  thrilling  experiences  as- 
cending Mount  Tyndall,  209- 
216;  the  dangerous  descent, 
216-220;  his  coolness  and 
bravery,  219. 

Coues,  Dr.,  gives  account  of  de 
Anza's  routine,  20,  21. 

Crespi,  Juan,  companion  of 
Serra,  9;  sails  from  Cadiz, 
9;  arrives  at  Vera  Cruz,  10. 

Crocker,  Charles,  in  charge  of 
construction  of  Central  Pa- 
cific Railroad,  239;  his  abil- 
ity, 239;  secures  Chinese 
labor,  241. 


5o8 


INDEX 


D 

DANA,  R.  H.,  Jr.,  Two  Years 
Before  the  Mast,  104. 

Davidson,  George,  quotation 
from,  on  James  Lick,  267. 

Davis,  Horace,  comments  on 
Thomas  Starr  King,  175,  176. 

Death  Valley  Party,  74-93- 

De  Smet,  Father,  joins  party 
with  Bidwell,  48;  leaves 
party  at  Soda  Springs,  49. 

Diaz,  Melchior,  with  Coronado, 
4;  sent  to  find  Alargon,  4; 
reaches  gulf  of  California, 
4;  Castaneda  relates  story  of, 
4;  foils  Indian  plot,  4; 
watchful  and  prudent  com- 
mander, 5. 

Dolores  Mission,  selected  by 
de  Anza  as  site  of  San  Fran- 
cisco Mission,  23. 

Du  Bois,  Constance  Goddard, 
pictures  of  old  Mission  life 
in  A  Soul  in  Bronze,  24. 

Duran,  Padre,  accuses  Smith 
of  enticing  neophytes  to  des- 
ert, 42;  Smith's  explanation 
to,  42. 


ECHEANDIA,  Mexican  Governor, 
Pattie's  hatred  of,  31 ;  harsh 
treatment  of  Pattie,  31 ;  per- 
mits Smith  to  purchase  sup- 
plies, 41 ;  tries  to  detain 
Smith,  41 ;  Smith  gives  bond 
to,  44. 

Etiwanda,  town  started  by 
Chaffey,  442;  its  great  suc- 
cess, 442;  Australian  Com- 
mission at,  ;|/i/|. 


FIELD,  Stephen  J.,  decisions 
questioned,  xii ;  settles  in 
California,  245 ;  alcade,  246 ; 
in  State  legislature,  246; 


fearlessness  as  judge,  250- 
259;  devotion  to  principle, 
260. 

Fitzpatrick,  Captain,  j  oins 
party  with  Bidwell,  48;  tries 
to  calm  fears  of  party,  49; 
goes  to  meet  Indians,  49. 

Flint,  Wilson,  quotation   from, 

137- 

Forbes,  A.  S.  C,  pictures  of 
old  Mission  life  in  Mission 
Tales  in  the  Days  of  the 
Dons,  24. 

Fremont,  John  Charles,  no  spe- 
cial chapter  on,  x ;  fully 
treated  in  all  State  histories, 
x;  his  career  commended,  x; 
appoints  Bidwell  alcade  of 
San  Luis  Rey,  53 ;  sends  des- 
patches by  Carson,  04; 
elected  United  States  Sena- 
tor, 124. 


GARCES,  Julian,  diary  of  de 
Anza's  expedition,  20,  21. 

George,  Henry,  birth,  401 ;  con- 
ception of  his  idea,  401-403; 
courage  and  independence, 
404;  editor  of  Sacramento 
Reporter,  405 ;  opposed  to 
Central  Pacific  Railway  Co., 
policy,  405;  Our  Land  and 
Land  Policy,  406-408;  his 
speeches,  408-410 ;  Progress 
and  Poverty,  411-414;  diffi- 
culties of  publication,  412; 
its  popularity,  414;  lecturing 
tours,  415;  New  York  may- 
oralty campaign,  415;  his 
death,  416;  appreciation  of 
him,  416. 

Gold,  discovery  of,  in  Califor- 
nia, by  Marshall,  123. 

Graves,  W.  C..  finds  body  of 
Charles  T.  Stanton,  63. 

Grey,     Sir    George,    quotation 


INDEX 


5°9 


from  letter  to  Henry  George, 

413- 

Gwin,     William      M.,      elected 
United  States  Senator,  124. 


H 

HALLIDIE,  Andrew  S.,  his  in- 
ventive genius,  317-319;  the 
cable  road,  320;  the  Mount 
Lowe  railway,  321. 

Hamilton,  Sam,  rider  on  first 
Pony  Express  Route,  127. 

Harte,  Bret,  vivid  pictures  of 
California  life,  viii;  quota- 
tion from,  xi. 

Haslam,  Robert  H.,  "Pony 
Bob,"  rider  on  first  Pony 
Express  Route,  127 ;  narra- 
tive of,  129-132. 

Hayes,  Colonel  Jack,  com- 
mands volunteer  corps  in 
Paiuti  War,  129. 

Hittell,  Theodore  H.,  quota- 
tion from,  on  James  King, 
161,  165;  life  of  James 
Capen  Adams,  180;  tribute 
to  Theodore  P.  Judah,  229; 
on  Adolph  Sutro,  289. 

Holt,  L.  M.,  developes,  with 
Chaffey,  the  mutual-company 
water  system,  442,  443. 

Hopkins,  elected  treasurer  of 
Central  Pacific  R.  R.  Co., 
226. 

Huntington,  Collis  P.,  elected 
vice-president  Central  Pacific 
R.  R.  Co.,  226;  ability  as  fi- 
nancier, 237;  opposes  San 
Pedro  harbor,  460;  contro- 
versy with  White,  461,  462; 
meeting  with  White,  462; 
opinion  of  White,  463. 


IRISH,     John     P.,     tribute     to 
Luther  Burbank,  389. 


JACKSON,  Helen  Hunt,  pictures 
of  old  Mission  life  in  Ra- 
mona,  24;  espouses  the  cause 
of  the  Indian,  364;  The  Cen- 
tury of  Dishonor,  364;  con- 
troversy with  Schurz,  365; 
commissioned  by  Indian  De- 
partment, 366;  plans  her 
novel,  367-372;  Ramona,  372; 
its  influence,  373. 

Jayme,  Padre,  murdered  by 
Indians,  22. 

Jordan,  David  Starr,  tribute  to 
Luther  Burbank,  397. 

Judah,  Theodore  D.,  birth  of, 
222;  arrives  in  California, 
222;  builds  short  railroad 
from  Sacramento,  222;  plans 
transcontinental  line,  223 ;  as 
delegate  to  Washington  in  its 
interest,  224;  mission  fails, 
224 ;  the  "  Big  Four,"  225, 
226;  Central  Pacific  Railroad 
Co.,  organized,  226 ;  elected 
engineer  of  road,  226;  second 
mission  to  Washington,  226; 
bill  enacted,  227 ;  files  plans 
for  road,  227 ;  return  to  Cali- 
fornia, 227;  educates  people, 
228;  starts  for  Washington, 
228;  death  of,  228;  Hittell's 
tribute  to,  229. 

K 

KEARNY,  General  Philip,  com- 
mands Army  of  the  West, 
94;  prevails  on  Carson  to 
join  him,  94;  engagement 
with  Mexicans,  96;  critical 
condition  of  army,  99;  Car- 
son and  Beale  go  for  aid,  99; 
army  relieved  by  Stockton, 
103. 

Kelley,  Jay  G.,  rider  on  first 
Pony  Express  Route,  127; 
thrilling  experiences  of,  133- 
135- 


INDEX 


King,  Clarence,  first  director  of 
U.  S.  Geol.  Survey,  207;  his 
Mountaineering  in  the  Sierra 
Nevada,  207;  extracts  from, 
208,  209;  thrilling  experi- 
ences ascending  Mount  Tyn- 
dall,  209-216;  the  dangerous 
descent,  216-220. 

King,  James,  of  William,  birth 
of,  154;  letter  from  his 
brother,  155;  arrives  in  Cali- 
fornia, 156;  opens  bank,  156; 
his  integrity,  157;  foreman 
of  grand  jury,  158;  business 
reverses,  158;  challenged  to 
fight,  159;  his  reply,  159;  its 
reception,  160;  starts  news- 
paper, 162 ;  its  success,  163 ; 
denounces  wrong-doing,  163- 
165 ;  demands  trial  of  Cora, 
166;  a  power  in  the  State, 
167;  opposes  appointment  of 
Bagley,  167;  attack  on  Casey, 
167;  altercation  with  Casey, 
168;  murder  of,  by  Casey, 
168;  effect  of  on  citizens, 
168;  Vigilance  Committee  re- 
called, 168;  trials  of  Cora 
and  Casey  by  Committee, 
169;  execution  of  murderers, 
170;  burial  of  King,  170; 
good  he  accomplished,  170. 

King,  Thomas  Starr,  promi- 
nence during  Civil  War,  171 ; 
powerful  sermon  for  Union, 
173;  tours  State  for  cause, 
175;  life  threatened,  175;  ap- 
peals for  funds  for  Sanitary 
Commission  work,  176 ;  trib- 
ute to,  by  James  Linden,  176, 
177;  illness  and  death,  178; 
tribute  to,  by  William  D. 
Simonds,  178 ;  Whittier's 
poem  on,  179. 


LELAND,     Life     of    James    P. 
Beckwourth,  109. 


Lemmon,  John  G.,  his  birth, 
322;  early  life,  323;  enlists 
for  war,  323;  in  Anderson- 
ville,  323 ;  health  broken,  323 ; 
removes  to  California,  323; 
discovers  new  plants,  324; 
encouraged  by  Asa  Gray, 
324;  his  botanical  researches, 
324 ;  marriage,  325 ;  his  wife 
an  enthusiastic  botanist,  325 ; 
the  wild  potato,  326;  danger 
from  Indians,  328;  arduous 
trips,  329-332;  ascent  of 
Mount  Agassiz,  332-335 ; 
work  for  conservation,  336; 
his  labor  appreciated,  336; 
his  death,  337. 

Lemmon,  Sara  Plummer,  mar- 
riage, 325;  an  enthusiastic 
botanist,  325 ;  her  sketches  of 
plants,  326;  a  dangerous  trip, 
326-329;  hostile  Indians,  328; 
ascent  of  Mount  Agassiz, 
332-335  5  pioneer  conserva- 
tionist, 336;  authorship,  336, 
337 ;  edits  husband's  last 
book,  337. 

Lick,  James,  birth  of,  261 ;  in 
New  York,  262;  to  Buenos 
Ayres,  262;  at  Lima,  Peru, 
262;  arrives  in  San  Fran- 
cisco, 263 ;  real  estate  invest- 
ments, 264 ;  the  "  Mahogany 
Mill,"  264;  his  peculiarities, 
265;  builds  hotel,  266;  gift  to 
Academy  of  Sciences,  266; 
plans  for  Observatory,  267 ; 
the  deeds  of  trust,  267-270; 
his  death,  270;  Observatory 
established,  271 ;  his  bene- 
factions, 271. 

Linden,  James,  tribute  to 
Thomas  Starr  King,  176,  177. 

Lowe,  Thaddeus  S.  C,  birth  of, 
417;  early  life,  417-419; 
chemical  researches,  419,  420; 
balloon  ascensions,  420 ; 
agreement  with  Professor 


INDEX 


Henry,  421;  discovers  east- 
ern current  of  air,  421-424; 
ballooning  experiences  dur- 
ing the  war,  424-427;  experi- 
ments in  refrigeration,  427, 
428;  invention  of  gas  making 
machinery,  428;  settles  in 
California,  429;  inclined  rail- 
ways, 429-431 ;  builds  Ob- 
servatory, 431 ;  Mount  Lowe 
Railway,  431,  432;  refining 
petroleum,  433,  434;  his  in- 
ventions, 435;  his  fame,  436. 

M 

/McCuxcHEON,  William,  one  of 
Donner  party,  57 ;  volunteers 
with  Stanton  to  go  for  aid, 
57;  carries  letter  to  Captain 
Sutter,  57;  safe  arrival,  58; 

.-     illness  of,  58. 

fMcGlashan,  C.  R,  History  of 
the  Donner  Party,  59. 

Majors,  Alexander,  joint-pro- 
prietor of  stage  route,  124; 
establishes  first  Pony  Ex- 
press, 126;  Memoirs  of,  132. 

Manly,  W.  L.,  one  of  Death 
Valley  Party,  74;  volunteers 
with  Rogers  to  seek  aid,  74; 
reaches  San  Fernando  Mis- 
sion, 75;  returns  with  suc- 
cour, 75 ;  suffering  in  the 
desert,  75 ;  abandons  animals, 
76;  regains  the  party,  79; 
party  goes  forward,  81 ; 
amusing  episode,  82;  reaches 
Los  Angeles,  85. 

Man  with  the  Hoe,  The,  452. 

Markham,  Edwin,  teaching 
school,  451 ;  The  Man  with 
the  Hoe,  452;  its  reception, 
454;  the  author's  defense  of 
the  poem,  454-457;  a  cham- 
pion of  the  helpless,  458. 

Marley,  W.  C.,  superintendent 
of  Pony  Express  station,  130. 

Maxwell,  George  H.,  organizes 


National  Irrigation  Associa- 
tion, 473. 

Mendoza,  endeavors  to  surpass 
Cortes,  i;  appoints  Alargon 
to  command  of  expedition  to 
cooperate  with  Coronado,  2. 

Mphave  Indians,  Pattie's  excit- 
ing encounter  with,  34;  pur- 
sues and  defeats  them,  35. 

Muir,  John,  early  life,  339;  in- 
ventive genius,  340;  reflec- 
tions, 341,  342;  temporary 
loss  of  sight,  343;  through 
the  South,  344;  illness,  345; 
in  California,  345;  in  the 
Sierra  Nevada,  346;  descrip- 
tion of  country,  347-349; 
with  Coast  and  Geodetic  Sur- 
vey, 349;  to  Alaska,  349; 
member  of  Corwin  expedi- 
tion, 349;  visits  Norway  and 
Switzerland,  350;  personal 
appearance,  350;  his  literary 
style,  350-354;  five  land- 
marks in  his  life,  355-360. 

Murphy,  Virginia  Reed.  See 
Reed,  Virginia. 

N 

NORTH,  John  W.,  issues  circu- 
lar for  colony,  292;  Riverside 
to-day,  292-295;  the  plan, 
295,  296;  the  land  selected, 
297;  his  early  life,  298;  prac- 
tice of  the  law,  299;  ap- 
pointed judge,  300;  colony 
formed  and  land  purchased, 
301,  302;  starting  the  or- 
chards, 302-304;  the  first 
navel  oranges,  305;  starts 
new  colony,  308. 

O 

ONTARIO,  town  started  by 
Chaffey,  442;  its  growth, 
443;  system  of  water  supply, 
444- 


INDEX 


PALOU,  companion  of  Serra,  9; 
sails  from  Cadiz,  9;  arrives 
at  Vera  Cruz,  10;  walks  to 
Mexico  City,  10. 

Papago  Indians,  warn  de  Anza 
of  danger  from  Yumas,  18. 

Pattie,  James  O.,  trapping  of 
animals,  cruel,  xii;  a  trapper 
of  Kentucky,  28;  travels  in 
Lower  California,  28;  taken 
prisoner,  29;  vaccinates  in- 
habitants, 29 ;  Thwaites'  story 
of,  29;  joins  Pratte,  30;  im- 
prisoned at  San  Diego,  31 ; 
his  father's  death,  31 ;  hatred 
of  Governor  Echeandia,  31 ; 
his  narrative,  32-38;  bear 
hunting  on  the  Gila,  32;  at- 
tacked by  Mohaves,  34;  death 
of  his  companions,  35 ;  horses 
stolen  by  the  Yumas,  37 ; 
builds  canoes,  38;  crosses 
Colorado  Desert,  38. 

Peters,  Dewitt  C,  Life  of  Car- 
son, 96. 

Phelps,  Captain  W.  D.,  in  com- 
mand of  the  ship  Alert,  104; 
of  assistance  to  Fremont, 
104;  diary  of,  105-108. 

Pomeroy,  Judge,  quotation 
from,  246,  249. 

Pony  Express,  The,  first  con- 
sideration of,  125;  establish- 
ment of  first  route,  126;  first 
arrival  in  San  Francisco, 
128;  tariff  for  letters,  128; 
dangers  for  messengers,  129. 

Powell,  John  W.,  his  ideas  on 
Reclamation,  310-312;  the 
speculator's  plan,  312-313;  his 
temptation,  314;  his  speech 
and  its  reception,  315,  316. 

Pratt,  assistant  to  Charles 
Crocker,  239;  loyalty  to  the 
Central  Pacific  Railroad,  239. 

Pratte,  Bernard,  a  noted  trap- 


per,   joined    by    James     O. 
Pattie,  30. 

R 

RANDOLPH,     Edmund,     violent 

speech  for  slavery,  172. 
^Heed,   James   T.,   organizer  of 
the   Donner   Party,  64;  kills 
Snyder     in    altercation,     66; 
.1'   banished  by  party,  66. 
'Reed,     Virginia,     account     of 
Donner   Party,  60;   daughter 
of      organizer      of      Donner 
party,  66 ;  takes  aid  to  father, 
67;   dangers  of  the  journey, 
68-71 ;   finds   her  father,  71 ; 
returns  to  party,  72. 

Richardson,  H.,  rider  on  first 
Pony  Express  Route,  127. 

Richardson,  William  H.,  assas- 
sination of,  166. 

Rinehart,  Robert  E.,  story  of 
the  Death  Valley  party,  86- 
.93- 

Rivera,  Governor,  receives  de 
Anza's  report,  23. 

Robidoux,  French  trapper, 
joined  by  John  Bidwell,  47; 
organizes  party,  47;  varied 
experiences,  48. 

Rockwood,  C.  R...  makes  sur- 
veys for  reclaiming  the  Colo- 
rado Desert,  440,  441 ;  ap- 
peals to  Chaffey  Brothers, 
446;  their  interest  enlisted, 
446 ;  work  taken  up,  446 ; 
successful  conclusion,  446 ; 
Imperial  Valley  prosperity 
largely  due  to  him,  450. 

Roff,  Harry,  rider  on  first  Pony 
Express  Route,  127. 

Rogers,  one  of  Death  Valley 
party,  74;  volunteers  with 
Manly  to  seek  aid,  74; 
reaches  San  Fernando  Mis- 
sion, 75 ;  returns  with  suc- 
cour, 75 ;  sufferings  in  the 
desert,  75;  abandons  animals, 


INDEX 


76;  regains  the  party,  79; 
party  goes  forward,  81 ; 
amusing  episode,  82 ;  reaches 
Los  Angeles,  85. 

Royce,  C.  C,  quotation  from, 
on  Bidwell,  53. 

Russell,  joint-proprietor  of 
stage  route,  124;  enthusiastic 
for  Pony  Express,  125 ;  es- 
tablishes first  Route,  126. 

Ryan,  Marah  Ellis,  pictures  of 
old  Mission  life  in  The  Soul 
of  Rafael,  24. 


ST.  JOSEPH,  Missouri,  first 
westward  Pony  Express 
started  from,  128. 

San  Antonio  de  Padua  Mis- 
sion, founded  by  Serra,  15. 

San  Buenaventura  Mission, 
founded  by  Serra,  15. 

San  Carlos  Mission,  founded 
by  Serra,  15;  copy  of  Sar- 
ria's  letter  in  archives  of,  25. 

San  Carlos  Carmelo  Mission, 
Junipero  Serra  buried  in,  15. 

San  Diego  Mission,  established 
by  Serra,  15;  division  of  de 
Anza's  party  arrives  at,  19; 
de  Anza  goes  to,  22. 

San  Francisco  de  Asis  Mission, 
founded  by  Serra,  15. 

San  Gabriel  Mission,  founded 
by  Serra,  15;  on  road  from 
Lower  to  Upper  California, 
17;  de  Anza  arrives  at,  19. 

San  Juan  Capistrano  Mission, 
founded  by  Serra,  15. 

San  Luis  Obispo  Mission, 
founded  by  Serra,  15. 

San  Luis  Rey  Mission,  Bidwell 
appointed  alcade  of,  53. 

Santa  Barbara  Mission,  founded 
by  Serra,  15. 

Santa  Clara  Mission,  founded 
by  Serra,  15. 

Sargent,  A.  \.,  meets  Judah  on 


trip  to  Washington,  227;  aids 
in  Central  Pacific  R.  R.  Co., 
legislation,  227. 

Sarria,  Francisco  Vicente  de, 
arrives  in  California,  25; 
elected  Comisario  prefecto, 
25 ;  letter  to  missionaries,  25 ; 
his  loyalty  to  Spain,  26; 
Gleeson's  account  of,  27; 
death  of,  27. 

Serra,  Junipero,  spirit  extolled, 
xi;  birth  of,  7;  joins  Fran- 
ciscan Order,  7;  fame  as  a 
preacher,  8 ;  influenced  by 
Dante,  8;  becomes  a  mission- 
ary, 9;  his  companions,  9; 
sails  from  Cadiz,  9;  suffer- 
ings on  voyage,  10;  arrives 
at  Vera  Cruz,  10 ;  walks  to 
Mexico  City,  10;  Jesuits  ex- 
pelled from  Lower  Califor- 
nia, 1 1 ;  appointed  presidente, 
II ;  a  pioneer,  n;  revered  by 
natives,  11;  simplicity  of  life, 
12;  ability  of,  12,  13;  his 
genius  and  tact,  13 ;  his  bra- 
very, 14 ;  results  of  labors  of, 
15 ;  Missions  established  by, 
15;  death  and  burial,  15;  pe- 
titions for  road  to  Upper 
California,  17 ;  welcomes  de 
Anza,  22;  memorial  cross  to 

293- 

Simonds,  Rev.  William  D.,  trib- 
ute to  Thomas  Starr  King, 
178. 

Slavery,  sentiment  in  Califor- 
nia for,  171-173. 

Sloat,  Commodore,  seized  Cali- 
fornia for  the  United  States, 
123. 

Smith,  Jedediah,  joins  General 
Ashley's  band  of  trappers, 
40;  on  Rio  Virgen  and  Colo- 
rado River,  40;  crosses  Colo- 
rado Desert,  41 ;  reaches  San 
Gabriel,  41 ;  arrested,  41 ;  re- 
leased by  Echeandia,  41 ; 


INDEX 


writes  Padre  Duran,  42; 
crosses  the  Sierras,  42;  re- 
turns to  California,  43 ;  bond 
signed  by  Captain  Cooper, 
43;  returns  to  Salt  Lake,  44; 
killed  by  Indians,  44. 

"  Snow-shoe  "  Thompson.  See 
Thompson,  John  A. 

Smythe,  William  E.,  birth  of, 
468;  in  Nebraska,  469;  The 
Conquest  of  Arid  America, 
469,  475;  editorials  on  irriga- 
tion, 469-471 ;  popularizes 
movement,  475 ;  his  book 
scientific,  historical,  practi- 
cal, 475,  476;  quotation  from, 
477 ;  the  "  Little  Landers," 
478-480;  a  great  benefactor, 
481. 

Soledad  Mission,  Padre  Sarria 
dies  at,  24;  Sarria  pastor  of, 
27. 

Stanford,  Leland,  nominated 
for  Governor,  226;  elected 
president  Central  Pacific  R. 
R.  Co.,  226;  elected  Gov- 
ernor, 235 ;  efforts  to  raise 
funds,  237;  announces  com- 
/  pletion  of  road,  244. 
v  Stanton,  Charles  T.,  one  of  the 
Donner  party,  57 ;  volunteers 
with  McCutcheon  to  go  for 
aid,  57 ;  carries  letter  to  Cap- 
tain Sutter,  57;  safe  arrival, 
57 ;  illness  of  Mc*Cutcheon, 
57;  returns  with  Indian  com- 
panions, 58;  rejoins  party, 
58;  urges  speed,  58;  Mc- 
Glashan's  history,  59;  efforts 
to  escape,  59;  return  to  the 
Lake,  60;  the  "Forlorn 
Hope,"  60;  sufferings  of  ad- 
vance party,  61-63  ;  his  death, 
63 ;  his  body  found,  63. 

Stockton,  Commodore,  Carson 
offers  to  seek  aid  of,  99;  des- 
patches aid  to  Army  of  the 
West,  103. 


Sutro,  Adolph,  birth  of,  273; 
early  years,  274;  arrival  in 
America,  274;  settles  in  Cali- 
fornia, 274;  the  Comstock 
lode,  274-278 ;  formulates 
plan  for  tunnel,  278,  279;  se- 
cures State  aid,  279;  national 
aid  granted,  281 ;  tunnel  op- 
posed, 281 ;  mass  meeting  of 
miners,  282;  his  speeches, 
283-286;  congressional  inves- 
tigation, 286 ;  tunnel  com- 
pleted 289;  Hittell's  view  of, 
289;  retires  from  corpora- 
tion, 290;  real  estate  inter- 

J   ests,  290;  elected  mayor,  290. 

vSutter,  Captain,  joined  by  Bid- 
well,  52;  orders  Fort  Ross 
dismantled,  52;  letter  from 
Donner  party,  57;  sends  aid 
to,  58. 

T 

TAYLOR,  William,  arrival  in  San 
Francisco,  140;  preaches  first 
sermon,  141 ;  shrewdness  and 
wit,  142-144;  denunciation  of 
gambling,  145 ;  origin  of 
"  Shanghaing,"  147 ;  labors 
for  seamen,  146-148;  preaches 
against  duelling,  148;  sends 
first  eucalyptus  seed,  149; 
builds  his  house,  150;  high 
cost  of  living,  152;  his  suc- 
cess, 152;  establishes  mis- 
sions, 153;  appointed  Mis- 
sionary Bishop,  153. 

Thatcher,  George,  rider  on  first 

Pony  Express  Route,  128. 
*  Thompson,  John  A.  ("  Snow- 
shoe"),  bravery  and  endur- 
ance of,  195,  196;  birth  of, 
197;  arrival  in  California, 
197;  makes  his  first  snow- 
shoes,  197;  agility  surprises 
friends,  199;  begins  carrying 
mails,  199;  travelled  light, 
200;  method  of  camping, 


INDEX 


202;  working  without  pay, 
204;  his  claims  rejected,  205; 
death  of,  205. 

Thwaites,  R.  G.,  Introduction 
to  Patties'  Narrative,  29-31. 

U 

ULLOA,  Francisco  de,  sails  from 
Acapulco  by  order  of  Cortes, 
I ;  discovers  peninsula  and 
gulf  of  California,  2;  incom- 
petency  of,  2. 

Union  Pacific  Railroad  Co., 
connected  with  Central  Pa- 
cific, 231 ;  payment  for  com- 
pleted road,  241 ;  rivalry  with 
Central  Pacific,  242;  the  last 
spike,  243. 

V 

VASQUEZ  de  Coronado,  in  serv- 
ice of  Mendoza,  2 ;  Alar- 
c.on  sent  to  cooperate  with, 
2;  sends  Diaz  to  find  Alar- 
c,on,  4. 

Verges,  companion  of  Serra,  9; 
sails  from  Cadiz,  9;  arrives 
at  Vera  Cruz,  10. 

Vigilance  Committee  (of  1856), 
reorganized  upon  murder  of 
James  King,  168;  take  Cora 
and  Casey  from  jail,  169; 
trial  of,  169;  execution  of, 
170. 

Vincens,   companion  of   Serra, 


9;   sails   from  Cadiz,  9;   ar- 
rives at  Vera  Cruz,  10. 

W 

WADDELL,  joint-proprietor  of 
stage  route,  124;  establishes 
first  Pony  Express,  126. 

Weller,  John  B.,  speech  for 
Breckenridge,  171. 

White,  Stephen  M.,  the  strug- 
gle for  San  Pedro  harbor, 
460-462;  meeting  with  Hunt- 
ington,  462,  463 ;  Hunting- 
ton's  opinion  of,  463 ;  conclu- 
sion of  speech  in  Senate, 
464. 

Whittier,  John  G.,  poem  on 
Thomas  Starr  King,  179. 

Wozencraft,  Dr.  O.  M.,  secures 
aid  of  State  and  national  au- 
thorities, 439,  440;  plan  for 
reclaiming  the  Colorado  Des- 
ert, 440;  interfered  with  by 
Civil  War,  440. 

Wright,  William,  account  of 
"  Snow  -  shoe  "  Thompson, 
195-206. 


YUMA  Indians,  reported  un- 
friendly to  de  Anza,  19;  give 
aid  to  his  party,  19;  division 
of  his  party  return  to,  19; 
stampede  and  capture  Pat- 
tie's  horses,  37. 


Date  Due 


I 


UCLA-Geology/Geophysics  Library 

F  860  J23h 


L  006  565  912  0 


JSJ 


The  RALPH  DJRFH) 

(LOGY 

UNIVERSITY  of  <          'ORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES,  CALIF. 


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